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A pause froely On this civilian ship In an unknown and highly classified location Right?"

Burgundy bit back a chuckle She wasn‘t fond of Rebecca either

―We heard you, Sergeant," Rebecca said, about as icy as an AI could get

―Request reinforcements to aid with the mission"

―Request denied"

―I want to talk to the commander"

A false s over an ice field ―The coeant"

―Requesting--"

―Negative" This tiundy‘s stoeant, but we can‘t send anyone without alerting the Covenant capitol ship to our presence, and you knoe‘re out the Cole Protocol The secrecy of Earth‘s location is paramount, and the Mona Lisa does appear to be compromised by Covenant Stand by for your orders"

―Sir"

―Ascertain if the Covenant have accessed the nav system If not, destroy it before they do If so

" he stopped, then continued, after what sounded like consultation with Rebecca, ―ill inform you when it is safe for you to return"

―Sir" Burgundy could hear Lopez striving and failing to keep frustration out of her voice ―Sir, I‘, shut down the nav and flush out every Covie on this stinking boat, but begging your pardon, it‘s a big-ass boat We need so Get a Pelican out here on, I don‘t know, thrusters alone, so it Lopez was thinking it She bet even the co it

Orders froround weren‘t worth shit

―Negative, Sergeant You have your orders, and I trust you‘ll see theh in your usual

spectacularfashion," he said with a trace of arace ―Sir, permission to speak freely?"

―Denied"

―You‘re fading now You‘re breaking up," Rebecca said ― You have your orders" Said remotely, with finality, her attention already elsewhere

A beat And then, ―They gone, Burgundy?"

―Yes, Sarge"

Lopez said soundy muttered

―You cozy?"

―Yeah"

―Alone?"

Nothing had ht flickering on the ground ―I can‘t see anything"

―Okay Sit tight Keep ain We‘ll come back and mess up your bird and you‘ll hate us for it"

―And then there‘ll be ice creaht Over and out"

Outside, the last flashlight went dark

>Lopez 1402 hours

Twelve rosary beads now Lopez had a burning anger in her guts that had nothing to do with the Covenant Already blood in the dark She had her orders Her lousy orders She had twelve Marines left, a big-ass ship to clean out, and no support of any kind

I’ll give you "spectacular"

They stood around her, around Rabbit‘s re

―You heard," she said, looking into each of their faces in turn Shadowed, ht beae of plan, boys and girls We got Covies on board, so the good commander has invoked the Cole Protocol We need to kill the nav systeoal Ascertaining what the hell is going on here is now a secondary objective Orlav, you got that rough scheine room?"

―Yeah" She didn‘t sound too enthusiastic

―All right, Benti, you take Clarence, Orlav, Gersten, and Tsardikos You‘re going after the backup down in the engine rooet your asses back here You see any Covies along the way, you kill Covies I don‘t care if they‘re happy to see you or not None of theht Benti, with Clarence, would be s up on that teaood recon, but she couldn‘t improvise

―Yes, sir!" Benti said, already out the door and slinking down the corridor, the others following her

―Iat the thing hidden in Rabbit‘s body

―You shoot anything you see Don‘t let anything get close Nothing, you hear e, you know et close" Her voice didn‘t say that at all

―No gear," Percy said, nudging the Covenant Elite with his boot, ripples spreading in the bloodied water ―Not a one of these bastards has any gear at all"

―All the better for us"

―How‘d Covenant get on board this ship, Sarge?" McCraw asked ―How? Just landed here with no weapons and no gear?"

―Maybe they‘re prisoners," Rakesh said

Lopez snorted ―Right Because we take soin her mind ―Where the hell is Ayad?" she asked

They had no good answer

>Benti 1431 hours

Things rong almost from the start for Benti and her teah, which had Benti hu under her breath They had cut across the ship, passing through processing cells and checkpoints and security stations tohat Orlav assured Benti was a shortcut--a series of access tunnels would lead to B deck Benti was all about the shortcuts

But now Clarence was bracing himself, back to the wall and foot on the door they needed to pass through He grunted, his boot squeaking with the effort, but the door didn‘t budge A makeshift barricade on the other side was the culprit It wasn‘t the first they‘d seen They‘d seen too ht and dark for her tastes, like being devoured by a throat Even the continued sight of swatches of blood--across walls, across ceilings--had begun to get to her Blood still didn‘t bother her, but she‘d never seen so da period She‘d run out of jokes about it Even the dull s to her She didn‘t like that she couldn‘t raise Burgundy, either

Gersten ave up after a reat hulk of a man, spoke almost as rarely as Clarence, and with as reeh-pitched shriek tore through the corridor, dissolved into a cackle, cut off

―What the hell was that?" Tsardikos asked

―Just the ship, probably," Benti said, lying

―Yeah," he replied, barely heard her ―Right"

―Hang on," Orlav said as she scrolled through the schematic a lot quicker than she had been ―I‘ll find us another route"

The tension was thick between the imperceptibly across Orlav‘s face as she traced out paths and access points Benti could hear the others trying to breathe quietly, trying not to breathe at all

Benti had a good iination She re her so it could listen, and she listened, too She knew that ships were never silent They had their own language Huines, the electronic pitch of athe vacuum of space That shriek hadn‘t been a ship noise, not even close

As Orlav continued to scroll, a new sound brushed up the corridor and overhead--like an enor across tin foil that then resolved into so A sound you‘d tell yourself you‘d iine ould have made it

It didn‘t repeat Benti never wanted to hear it again

Benti held her flashlight steady, deliberately steady, staring into the darkness at nothing, gathering herself Then she cast a quick eye around the walls ―Ducts?"

―You can get into the dah space for anyone anyway," Gersten said, looking as spooked as Benti felt

―Okay" Orlav‘s voice made Benti start ―We need to backtrack Should be access to the lower level two junctions over froh the recycling plant" Orlav sounded triumphant, which bothered Benti a bit Don’t applaud work-arounds until they actually work around

―Yum," she said, with an enthusiasm she didn‘t feel

She cast a last look over the blocked door None of them had said it, but the barricade that had stopped thee--an unholy flotsam and jetsam of chairs, couches,

smashed up boxes, machine parts, and even a potted plant or two--had been pushed back and