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"Coed? Osnal in the wardroo" Vaz actual y smiled, a proper smile with a show of teeth this time "Two hours’ time"

"Girls’ hockey?"

Vaz narrowed his eyes He’d heard it al before "Ice hockey"

Slipspace coreat to drop out of slip ful y briefed instead of being durown, and ripened during the tiht it ho able to watch his beloved hockey live It was the sht hi slipspace bubbles to preserve food one day," Mal said "That’s what happens to al technology The descent into the mundane"

"What?"

"Never ive Adj and Leaks their sludge"

"Leave it in the wardroom for them, on the nice tableware They’re ONI now" Vaz seeok had developed soy was stil aly prepared yeasty stuff he fed the"

Osman was pretty transparent for a spook; she’d thawed a lot since Mal had first , because nothing less than absolute ruthless efficiency would have osky’s chosen heir, but as far as the squad went she was a considerate commander who treated them with respect and fondness She let them take over the wardroom--a lot of officers would have taken a very diet her hands dirty alongside them Mal couldn’t ask forto push that to the limit He knew it He watched her move from her seat at the wardroom table to sit next to Naomi, as loud a statement of here-comes-the-aard-stuff as he’d ever seen

"Okay, people, ONI closed-door rules," Osman said Phil ips and Devereaux shrank visibly "I’l speak my mind and you’l speak yours Venezia

We pick up where we left off, and I admit there’s been some‘Telca into a probleave ‘Telcam, but mainly to work out what the supply networks are now The new focus of our interest is Pious Inquisitor"

"Are we just observing, or e have an active role?" Naomi asked, like it was just another , initial y But this isn’t a regular operation for us, so let’s work out our ground rules Naomi’s father We can make al the dutiful noises ant, but this isn’t just painful y personal, it’s without precedent What do we do about his, ma’am, then you treat hie and society feels sorry for theet prosecuted if they take the law into their own hands"

"I e Should he be told what happened to you? And do you want him to know? They’re different questions"

"He’l be the first parent to find out, ma’am," Vaz said "Shouldn’t that be a consideration? Security, I o public on it herself eventual y" Os ti an answer frolanced away "Mal?"

Mal could only put hiine his own reaction "He’s got a right to know, ma’am Whether it pisses him off even more or not"

"So hoe let him know?"

Naomi folded her arms "Maybe I’l tel hies we have to get through before you can do that"

"So do we grab hi here?" Mal asked "Then what do we do with him? Jail him? Shoot him? Because if we just throw hio from there?"

"Earth’s security and the security of its colonies co to prove to them that she put duty first She real y didn’t need to "If what happened to ot to be paramount"

It al depended on how Sentzke reacted to the news But they had to find a way to tel him first, and Mal didn’t know if that would er threat He spooled forward in his edy, the worst scenario: that so in his life had watched his family torn apart, had somehow survived the Covenant attacks, and then was final y reunited with his kid just before getting his brains blown out because he had a grudge against Earth A justified grudge, as it turned out Mal wondered how he’d feel about that when he was old and looking back on his service career, if he e and a peaceful death in his sleep It wasn’t the kind of deathbed reminiscence he wanted to have

Yeah, it’s all about how you ht on your ret

"So have weto soht al along?"

Osive her the casting vote, and Mal didn’t think that was right She had the right to decide if she wanted to be revealed to her father or not But it was also a terrible responsibility to give her for whatever Sentzke did when he found out

I’d go ballistic Co mental Any father would

"Naomi, I don’t know if it’s fair on you or not," Osman said at last

"I said I’d do it,but brood on this since she’d found out Mal damn wel knew it "But h contact with him to assess the consequences--for everyone"

It was a sensible Spartan kind of answer Naoh Oset up and leave, but it had the effect of bringing things to a gradual halt

"I want to deploy to the surface, ma’am" Naomi said it as if Osman hadn’t worked that out yet "If there’s one concession I want fro this play out"

"You’re two o unnoticed," Mal said "And if you’re undercover, you can’t clonk around in a bloody Mjolnir suit"