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BB existed to protect Earth, and Osman in particular Part of that protection was to accept that this was how they wished their world to be Like a soldier, he was the instruovernreed with

Their choices are what ood or bad If I take away their choices, I take away their humanity

In the space of a second, he watched it al , spread across space Devereaux dropped a connector and swore in Cantonese Halsey put her head in her hands and cried quietly while she repeated the na his aht round in Vadanal that connected a ship cal ed Promised Revelation with one of ‘Telcae to ride the carrier wave in case the signal was interrupted and he found part of hiain

"This is Avu Med ‘Telcaot hih to Osman "Go ahead"

If Osman had any doubts, they didn’t show She sat back in the seat, confident and in control "Field Master, thank you for your assistance in recovering Professor Phil ips Now let me help you out in return"

BB projected Infinity’s aerial recon iht in her eye line The wooded area in front of the Arbiter’s keep was now a solid mass of infantry behind a line of artil ery pieces Se into thermal mode to maintain detail, and then one, two, three of theht Explosions peppered the wal s of the keep

"You offered help before, but I think we’re doing better than we expected … Shipmaster" Maybe ‘Telcam had someone within earshot "The Arbiter’s syht"

"LetI can do to prevent this, but your situation’s going to change radical y in the next few hours What I can do is assist and try to save some of your assets I don’t knohat forh firepower and intel to stop this turning into a rout"

‘Telcam went quiet for a couple of seconds "Any advice, Shipmaster?"

"How many warships do you have?" Osman didn’t need to ask, because BB snatched the data from Infinity and overlaid it on the viewscreen It was more a test of ‘Telcam’s honesty "Not smal vessels--proper warships And where are they?"

"I have seven frigates and a cruiser Four of the frigates are deployed to other states, and three are east of Vada orders The cruiser is stil over Onto Vadam itself, but if the Arbiter doesn’t surrender, I’l use the ventral beaood care of the others if I were you"

"The Arbiter only has a cal on five se your plan Take a look at what’s just shown up in high orbit, if your long-range sensors are stil working Trust me

Osman out"

BB shut the link ‘Telcam real y had leveled with her

"I don’t believe I said that" Osman ran her hands over her face "Trust me Christ, BB, I wouldn’t, not if I were him"

"You haven’t actual y stitched him up yet, Captain"

"So where’s the rest of the fleet gone? I know they’ve lost plenty of hul s one way or another, but is that al they’ve got?"

"No, but it’s al that the keeps are wil ing to commit Like Earth’s civil wars In many of the it out Most of Sanghelios is probably waiting to see ins"

"The nusson’s crop kil er project makes sense"

"Ah, but it’s not the navy way, is it?" BB had a close eye on the decisions being taken on Infinity’s bridge, where Del Rio aiting for the word to deploy the MAC against the rebels "I’l update the Admiral"

"Hood does knoe’re here, doesn’t he?"

"Of course, even if he can’t see us"

"Reround"

Parangosky already had Del Rio was happy to wait, and the Arbiter hadn’t responded to Hood’s latest e yet BB watched Devereaux from the aft section safety cam

"I think they’l be able to ht end up being a salvage operation once they take off It’s a good ti to ain"

Osman nodded "Go ahead, Field Master"

"Osman," he said His voice sounded very distracted, very different And he rarely used her name "I took your advice Proe, and … when did you acquire that?"

He’d spotted Infinity, then It was very, very hard not to

ONIRF TREVELYAN The first lesson that Jul had learned from humans was deceit, and the second was sly patience Every day, they would chip away at whatever frustrated the up behind it, until it cruave way

Every day, then, he would do the sa The food was back to the bland nusson’s inexplicable attempt to make him feel at home, with the exception of the coloup half a , ready to spit it out if his instincts told hiain

It was the food He kneas the food When he’d tried to eat yesterday, the very sile, but hungry He cleared the bowl and waited for that awful craain But after a couple of hours he stil felt wel

Magnusson rapped at the door She waited a fewfor a response, accook carried the explosive harness