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Not waiting for a response, he turned to Lopez: ―What do you think?"

―I‘m not paid to think, sir" Her default anshen she didn‘t want to get involved

A sret in that look from Foucault As if, in situations like these, he wished he wasn‘t paid to think, either

When they‘d first come out of slipspace and seen their destination, seen the alien structure, otten herself ―What are we looking for, sir?" she‘d asked

Foucault hadn‘t looked away from the , but she‘d sensed him wince On that poker face, a

―wince" was just a lowered eyebrow ―Whatever there is to find, Sergeant," he‘d said finally Slight pressure on sergeant

―Did either of you intuit anything useful out of what the ives ushe was safe, sir," Lopez said Maybe death was a form of safety, but not one that appealed much to her

―Nothing that would be inconsistent with the delusions of afrom dehydration andthing with his hands that was his only affectation ―I‘m inclined to finish the postmortem, stow the body, and carry on with ourtheir asses for ―whatever there is to find" see to soe that it was near ih the debris field Between Rebecca and the discreet auto, they‘d avoided any serious collisions But that risked giving away their position to the Covenant even as the debris helped hide theht, the bulk of the Covenant fleet had left the systeet"--which supposedly had surprised the co she could confiro the Covenant fleet had left All she cared about: no Covies so far

So here, and Lopez still had no idea for what potential gain

Rebecca turned to Lopez, and said, ―What the commander o investigate the Mona Lisa ‘s last known coordinates"

Foucault looked griuess it must be what I ain, tinged with an odd kind of regret

―Sir?" Confused She‘d never seen an AI contradict a commander in quite that way ―Sir, your orders?"

Foucault stared at Rebecca, as if the force of his gaze ht burn two holes in her avatar Then he said in a clipped cadence, ―AI Rebecca is, of course, correct Take a squad in a Pelican and investigate Rebecca will coordinate the details Good luck, Sergeant Dismissed"

Lopez saluted, rose in confusion, walked out the door Thinking of John Doe‘s war why neither Foucault nor Rebecca had even asked about the autopsy, or the nature of theelse that didn‘t jive

Lopez had scars fro the Covenant pay and keep on paying Along with a long white re cat

Every tio into co now, telling her: So

>Foucault 1003 hours

Foucault sat there after Lopez had left, staring at Rebecca He was, for all his former exploits, a cautious man who had used extreme tactics when it had seemed the only option for his continued survival It had iven him his co to save hihtmares, from memories , aith sweat to find it was only one in theto the Covenant

Rebecca wasn‘t helping He‘d had a good relationship with Chauncey He‘d trusted Chauncey

Rebecca, wellTheoretically she worked for him, but a directive fro with a couple of rookies who acted so raw it made him suspicious--and that was more than sufficient reason for him to be wary

Foucault‘d had a superior once with a prosthetic eye, except that no one knew Thishiood eye and fall asleep, still staring at Foucault Inevitably, Foucault would lose the waiting contest and be the first to break the silence

Rebecca was a lass eye She could outwait hihed, lifted his head, and stated, ―You know more than you‘ve told me"

Rebecca didn‘t quite shake her head ―We have our orders, Coht upon first receiving theher than top secret, retrieve samples of an alien artifact for study, conduct basic recon, expect Covenant trouble He‘d stood on the bridge, staring at the pieces of the Halo, the wealth of such samples before him, and wondered why they‘d deploy a Prowler on such a task

As soon as the pod had come in, Rebecca had shown hie and simple Assess the status of the Mona Lisa , and if compromised beyond retrieval, destroy There had been no ht be compromised by

The codes were current, the passwords secure He didn‘t question their validity It was the only thing he didn‘t question

―Do you knohat is on that ship?" he asked, knowing he would get no answer, knowing he wouldn‘t believe any answer she gave ―I don‘t like being kept in the dark, especially when deployingthem to their deaths for all I know"

―Every ti the to him as if he was a child To add insult to injury, Foucault suspected she was processing some other scene, her attention elsewhere ―It is only recon"

―Our original orders were ‗only recon‘ as well," he said in ers

Rebecca looked at Foucault then, with her full attention, and her face seemed to soften A cheap trick he‘d seen her pull on others, changing the lighting on her avatar to so less harsh

―We‘re at war, Coainst the wall Extreme measures are necessary to ensure our survival"

Foucault forced himself to show no reaction and didn‘t immediately reply That was quite the overreaction, and it cemented his suspicions that there certainly washim, which meant she had orders of her own

He watched the screen, which showed a real-tile piece of debris tumbled slowly past It wasn‘t a rock, it was a piece of manufactured structure, hard crisp lines and dead cables showing There was a race that seeh noas et Rebecca to share her knowledge?

―Survival," he repeated

Was that really the only thing they were fighting for now?

>Lopez 1304 hours

As the Pelican headed toward their destination, Lopez found herselfat the view, struck by an odd h she didn‘t understand it all Perhaps even because she didn‘t understand

Doht noas Threshold‘s ponderous ―bloat-belly"; her teriant so filled the s it brought the illusion of blue sky to the cockpit up front instead of the ereat cloud-swirls across that surface Fro Didn‘t feel that way on the surface, Lopez knew The winds blew hundreds of kiloe of the Halo The h the view like a question mark that‘d been fractured to pieces Thousands of kiloh to devour whole continents Chunks of the superstructure bigger than cities tu as they tore shrieking down through Threshold‘s atered failures in the structure, the sheer immensity of it made the curve smooth Constantly tripped her sense of perspective

Covenant hadn‘t built it It was entirely alien, in design and purpose, and she took soe assurance from that Here was proof that there was oddamn Covenant She had no idea if whoever built this was friend or foe, but the sie sense of security We’re not alone Again

A pinprick next to Threshold, the Mona Lisa drifted like a dead thing alongside one of the larger pieces of debris fro, on the far side from Basis and distant froht the ship looked lonely, desolate, on the screen as they

approached Abandoned, even Pits like severe acne shohere the escape pods had already been launched into space

She asked for an update fro off the clock Already getting reacclimated to the up-close sweat smell from the Marines in the seats all around her, only MacCraw dune in the confines of a spacecraft, like he was on a date

Rebecca had chosen the squad, pilot included ―The maximum we can spare," she‘d explained

Seventeen personnel in total, including Benti and also Singh‘s s but were technically not combat-ready Clarence sat next to Lopez like so He never looked happy, but Lopez thought she could read in his

impassive features a distinct un happiness now

―She‘s not answering on any frequency, Sarge," Burgundy finally replied over Lopez‘s headset

They were on an open frequency for now Later, only Lopez would have access, and anyone she designated ―Can‘t get a peep out of her No distress beacon She‘s cold, and I don‘t think her engines have been running for a while"

Not if she lay in the same position she‘d been in when John Doe had escaped her clutches So cold and yet hugging so close to the burning shard of a world now lost to the sanctuary

―Can she zoom in? It just looks like a dark block," Benti undy could hear her

A closer view appeared on-screen ―That better?" Burgundy asked ―She ain‘t that pretty Not by half I‘d never date her"

A wracked and splintered e formed the backdrop for the Mona Lisa , made it difficult to make her out even with the zoom She had a blunt snout, the five levels Lopez had seen on the schee to the left thruster in the back A few dents Some bits like barnacles where compartments had been custom-built onto the ship That was a bit odd, but not unknown Near the back, Lopez could see where soh to scuttle it Freighters could take a severe pounding Almost certainly the Mona Lisa still had breathable air

―How‘d the postotten a peek but Lopez hadn‘t had a chance to ask her about it yet

―Why not ask Tsardikos?"

―Huh?"

Benti nodded toward one of the others ―Tsardikos over there did the autopsy Then they put hied, that officers move in mysterious ways look on her face

That e leap ―No," she said ―I want to hear it from you" Didn‘t want to hear it from a noncom who shouldn‘t even be on the eting in his kit Why should he?

Benti grimaced ―Nasty wounds Whatever opened his chest and back wasn‘t a blade, and took a hell of a lot of force Don‘t knohat it was, but I suppose when you‘re busting out of prison you use what you can grab I brought extra blood bags, though Just in case It was a prisoner riot, right?

It‘d have to be"

―Doesn‘t matter," Lopez said ―You honestly expect so the Marine Corps, Private?" Didn‘twith her people every once in a while