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"BB," she said, "I need to ask a favor of you A little extra assistance for Osman"

"Certainly, Ad"

"Could you leave a little of your inimitable self in this ship to counter Aine’s sensors? You’re awful y good at planting false inforst frael Gabriel for armed robbery if you needed , I’d like the sensors to record that the fire ca-Yar They’re already in ‘Telcam’s bad books, aren’t they?"

"Already taken care of, Adood ination"

"Bless you, BB" Noas tioing to be al right with this dament Don’t fret about it"

"I won’t I just feel a little too squeamish at the moment to take a look at it"

"I can understand that But you’l cope with it Parangosky out"

She checked her watch, then got up to get a bag of crystal ized ginger frorip Osman wouldn’t need it when every ship in the fleet had the new drives, but for the tiosky would make sure that she knew somebody cared that slipspace jus So was trust and friendship

She tucked a bottle of cologne in the bag as wel , then pressed the co," she said "This is Adosky Ask Adj and Leaks Repaired to report to the shuttle, please And don’t mention it to Dr

Halsey"

There was one more job to do before she could join them She needed to talk to Mike Spenser, the ht do with a former Covenant battlecruiser

THIRTY KILOMETERS NORTH OF ACROLI, SANGHELIOS "Right, BB," said Mal, stabbing a finger in the direction of the Phantoun kept trained on that bloody thing, and I’un until Dev’s done her repairs Got it?"

"Let me talk to them," Phil ips said "I can smooth this over"

He tried to stand up but Vaz pushed him back down in the seat as kindly as he could The Elite dropship had landed about a hundred meters away but nobody had cli for the trouble to start

"Evan, if you get taken again, they could sel you on to any bunch of thugs or nutters" Vaz didn’t seeet it across to hiot a value now You know things Do I have to spel it out? ONI’s gone in and killed agents to protect information before"

Phil ips didn’t bat an eyelid "I know the Sangheili better than you do"

"No, you don’t" Vaz pul ed his helmet off and jutted out his jaw to remind Phil ips of his scar "That’s who they are You sa Llanel i, al the glassing-- that’s who they are You can play with that damn arum and quote their poetry al you like, but they exterminate huet up again This time it was Naomi who smacked him down in his seat

"You need to concentrate on what you came here for," she said "Get your data uploaded What about BB’s fragment?"

"Oh, better leave that," BB said, unconvincingly casual "If there’s a proble it, I could end up conostics"

"Is that ht now?"

"Sorry I’d told him to shut up" Phil ips looked down at his jacket as if he’d spil ed food on it "The radio caered the security purge This BB doesn’t re except the nonclassified stuff I’ve tried to explain who he is so that he’s not too traurate, BB"

Vaz squatted in the doorway, peering out under the port wing It eird to hear two different BBs talking The one in Phil ips’s radio sounded like a stranger Vaz almost didn’t want to listen because it felt intrusive, like hearing his grandh, couldn’t he? He could just take out the data seganic brains could do that Mal shoved into the space next to hi it into position

"Okay, Dev, you’re covered," he cal ed "Out you go"

Devereaux jumped down from the starboard door with a canister ofNaomi fol owed her There was stil no e-head was flying it on his own and didn’t like the odds

"How’s it looking, Dev?" Mal asked

Devereaux sounded as if she was scra to take soht have to just seal off the lines and risk overheating Anything beats letting the Sangheili get their hands on her"

"Or us" Mal switched over to Stanley’s channel, triggering the feed in Vaz’s HUD "Ma’a to fix the coolant"

"I can see it, Staff," Os to contact ‘Telca?"

"Whether he should let you go or stop you leaving"

"We could just fire an Anvil up his turbine now, h, and we can’t etaway"

"Just let me talk to them," Phil ips murmured

Osive you some assistance if you need it The cavalry’s arrived, al six kilo to do to ahelios pronto"

"Oh That cavalry Is her paint dry yet?"

"Maybe not No carpets, but she’s fast and nasty"

"We’l let you knoe can’t fix it The fewer people we have to extract, the better Keep it simple"

"Don’t take any more risks I’ve told BB to spy on you and alert me if you do"

"Understood, ma’am Kilo-Five out"

Vaz watched Mal’s expression brighten He could put on a brave face at the end of the world, but there was resilient, and then there was pleased

He was verging on pleased

"They haven’t sent Infinity al this way for us," Vaz said "Seriously?"

"Nah, they’re rattling the galaxy’s biggest saber"

"Saber wasn’t the word I had in er than theirs" Mal leaned on the door gun again "Let’s just get this done and RTB Oh … here we go