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―Holy crap," Private Jemison blurted ―Sorry, sir, but holy crap, you‘re a Spartan!"

―Yes," John said dryly as he jogged toward the Marine, but before he had the chance to utter another syllable, the distinctive report of a fuel rod gun rang out froht his BR55 to bear, spun on his heel, acquired a sight picture of his target, and put a single bullet through the neck of the green-clad Grunt Private Je burst as the first shot froun sailed past the Spartan and the Marines and slammed into the tunnel wall a little more than twelve meters away The nearly decapitated Grunt reflexively fired a second shot, which impacted the roadway less than aexplosion killed half of the aliens that were visible in the tunnel, including their co a four-meter-wide hole in the wall and du, shattered concrete out onto the tunnel floor Dark, brackish slop lazily spilled out, acco it very clear that an opening had been punched into an

adjoining sewer line As if on cue, brilliant purple light washed along the walls as the massive, bulbous form of a Wraith slid into view from behind an abandoned co plates folded out of the way of its deadly plasma mortar

―Crap," Jemison howled as he backpedaled ―Corporal, what do we do?"

A tall, broad-shouldered redhead hopped down out of the back of the lead troop carrier and

in the wall ―Jump in that hole--it ain‘t no worse than it is out here! Move it!"

Jee of the rubble, all the while firing burst after burst fro enemies Corporal Palmer approached the Spartan, tapped his shoulder, and shouted, ―You wanna coh the rubble to the breach,for the rest of the squad to follow And in they went, one by one

John shouldered his rifle, took one step back toward the way he had come, and fired a burst into atwo and forcing the rest to scatter and dive for cover

―Chief, you should probably follow those Marines--they look like they need the help--and there are three htfully

As the walls of the tunnel reverberated with the sounds of the charging plasmathreeenemies as he went--then turned and disappeared into the breach He had made it no more than thirteena wall of concussion and heat that drove him to his knees and caused his shields to overload and drop John got back to his feet, but Private Jemison, the second-to-lastfacedown in the now boiling ans ruptured and bones splintered from that same blast

Howls from the darkness told him that Jemison wasn‘t the only casualty He ran past Private First-Class Locke, whose split and blistered flesh and raw bone were visible through s holes in his BDUs He stepped over Private First-Class Galliard, who had been felled by a piece of rebar that entered just below the nape of his neck and exited through the bridge of his nose--the still-glowing chunk of steel protruded from the seall ten yards farther ahead

When John reached the flow-through tunnel below the spillway, the re Marines skipped their eyes past him and looked back down the tunnel

―Where the hell‘s the rest of my squad?" demanded Corporal Palmer as she stepped forward ―The Wraith?"

―Affirmative," John replied flatly ―They were killed in action"

―Then we‘ve gotta go back"

―We‘re going forward"

―No we‘re not" Pal back there in this goddaroup over their helrated comm units ―They will be left behind just as the other twenty-three billion that preceded them were left behind Because they could not be saved, and carrying them with us will only make us vulnerable"

They looked at John like he was a monster; like an alien In so deeper Not horror; astonish Cortana speaking through his comms

―Who was that?" Palmer spat

―That was Cortana She‘s"

―She‘s a real fucking bitch"

The Spartan stood in silence, head cocked slightly to the right ―Corporal, give me your TACPAD"

Corporal Palmer produced a notebook-sized device from her pack and passed it to the Spartan, and he flipped it open and showed them a traffic video with a time staht infantry entering the Mtangwe Underpass

―It‘s a force can be," Cortana whispered to the Spartan John shrugged and s imbedded in a flat section of the seall

Cortana was the first smart AI he had ever worked with directly Sadly, whoever died to eniuses For exarid; it dated from before construction had even started on the Mombasa

Tether--itself more than two hundred years old Cortana had plucked the plans for them out of the ether before he could finish his request As far as equip that bothered him about Cortana was her excessive familiarity; she was more like a pushy civilian that just happened to fit on a data crystal than a true military AI

―You can tell her that the rest of their unit has begun to dig in at Beria Plaza," Cortana‘s voice buzzed in his ear ―That‘s a little under two kilometers away"

―Corporal Pal to you?"

―It was bethere that door ca"

―That‘s where the rest of your unit is It‘s about two clicks due east of our current position You‘ll go up here," John said, indicating the ladder ―It‘ll take you up to the surface" Cortana et him onto the Covenant assault carrier, but not so busy that she couldn‘t provide him the occasional blueprint, video feed, or other intel--whether it was helpful to his situation or not

―Okay" Palonna follow this pipe all the way out to the Mo to make sure the rest of you make it out of here alive"

―Gosh! That‘s awfully nice of you," Paled--then the smile faded ―Look, you may be a Spartan, but"

―Exactly, Corporal And if we had all been Spartans back there none of us would have died Now let me do my job"

Palmer‘s jaw dropped After about a second and a half she closed hersalute, pivoted on her heel, and then jogged over to the rest of the Marines

As the Marines stacked up at the base of the ladder, John readied his service rifle, swapped in a full azine, and took station on the other side of the tunnel so he could keep an eye on thelanced over at the Marines as they moved into position to climb to the upper part of the spillway--and out of the sewer they had been slogging through for the past twenty minutes While it may have only been a storm sewer, it hardly mattered this close to the Kilindini Harbor He wondered if the oppressive stench was the reason for the soldiers‘ sour expressions

―Chief," Cortana whispered, ―there was no way for you to save those three"

―Even so," he muttered, ―I could‘ve wiped out that entire unit"

―Four Wraiths," Cortana broke in ―Four You rely too much on your luck"

―The limited space and the abandoned vehicles in the tunnel would have restricted their mobility as well as their ability to use their ht all four dohich they did I‘ve been doing this for twenty-seven years, Cortana And I know the exact li to support you?"

―They started running as soon as the shooting started"

―Yes, Chief, but Corporal Pal about the other three Wraiths she had ainst armor without any antiarmor weaponry"

John watched as the last Marine started up the ladder and fired a burst from his BR55 back down the way they had coe the ancient concrete, followed by the panicked cries of Grunts in the distance as they dove for cover--and into the seelatinous, ankle-deep liquid Hopefully that would keep the any closer, at least until the Marines were all safely up on the spillway There was precious little cover within the confines of the sewer, certainly not enough to avoid any inco fire The spillould allow theet back to hisuseful for getting us to our objective," Cortana whispered in the Spartan‘s ear

―Thanks So you strongly suggest following theest we take them back to their unit," Cortana whispered very sweetly ―They could be useful too"

Palirlfriend say to wait there--you co or what?"

―It‘s an AI"

―Nice," Cortana huffed

John turned his attention to the ladder He looped his ars and popped them out, three at a time, until he had pulled out all of theood, but it didn‘t have to All it needed to do was slow the into the darkness before ju the sounds of the boots retreating up one of the drainage tunnels He could hear the sound of wind in the trees and the pounding of the surf sounfire and dull thudding of explosions in the distance

The tunnel opened into a wide culvert that seee from beneath the inner part of the island‘s western sea wall--and directly behind the parking area for the Kilindini Park Cultural Center The Marines had flattened out against the walls, stopping just short of the tunnel ainst the end of the culvert twelvea deep rut a half uely birdlike aliens that most UNSC personnel called Jackals Its back was to them--a thin stream of fluid fell into the rut between the alien‘s feet

The Spartan inched forward in uncanny silence, carefully gauging the distance between himself and the Jackal He positioned his feet on the tunnel floor, assessing his footing and evaluating the strength of the concrete beneath him He was less than seven meters from the alien when its head snapped to the side with a start, inhaling sharply John sailed forward--covering the distance in two strides, his left arers outstretched together to forauntleted hand passed effortlessly through the Jackal‘s skull just behind its left eye John backpedaled, retreating into the darkness of the drainage tunnel--the grisly re a streak of brilliant purple blood in their wake

Corporal Palroup and motioned for

everyone to stay low and quiet She scooted up to the edge of the culvert in a low crouch When she reached the end she popped the covers on her scope and sloung her BR55 over the low

concrete wall She could see the s res--M831 troop transports, M12 reconnaissance vehicles, even a couple of M12G light

antiared in a line partially shielding the main entrance of a squat concrete structure--a makeshift defensive wall She could also see the Jackals overlooking the parking area from the roof and the bodies of oddae-whispered ―There‘re bodies all over the place--there‘s a Grunt bleeding out and a Jackal standing not ten feet away fro at one of our boys What the hell, man?"