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"Can’t refuse," said Osman "Check her out while you’re there, and be nice to the Adosky?"

"There is only one"

"Okay" Mal checked his air supply readout "Dropship to Infinity, yes please, and make it snappy We’re on suit air"

"We can do snappy," the voice said "We’ve got frigates underslung"

Devereaux let out a breath Mal thought she was just pissed off that her repairs hadn’t held up after al , but then he caught rabbed her attention A point of light went froate in seconds

"So that’s where our tax dol ars went," she said "Do you think I can sweet-talk the Tart-Cart in their workshop?"

CHAPTER TWELVE

ONE DAY WE’LL LOOK BACK AND REALIZE THAT THE TURNING POINT WASN’T A BIGGER, BETTER SHIP OR BIGGER, BETTER WEAPONS, BUT THE FACT THAT WE ACQUIRED HURAGOK AND OUR ENEMIES LOST THEM IF WE LOSE A SHIP, WE CAN NOW REPLACE IT WITH AN EVEN BETTER ONE IF THE SANGHEILI LOSE ONE, THEN THERE ARE NO HURAGOK LEFT TO MANAGE THEIR SHIPYARDS OR CARRY OUT COMPLEX REPAIRS, LET ALONE DEVELOP BETTER EQUIPMENT EVERY SANGHEILI ASSET WE DESTROY DEGRADES THEIR CAPABILITY FAR INTO THE FUTURE WARS TURN ON THE ACTIONS OF INDIVIDUALS: FIRST THE SPARTANS, NOW THE HURAGOK

(ADMIRAL MARGARET PARANGOSKY, CINCONI: DRAFT OF PROPOSED EVIDENCE TO UEG SECURITY SELECT COMMITTEE)

OPPOSITION CAMP, VADAM

"Consider this," Forze said "It doesn’t matter if the rest of the states sit and dither When the Arbiter’s deposed, they’l al creep out of their holes and say they agreed with us al along"

He took the Phantoh clouds of s Raia remembered that she hadn’t cal ed her keep to check that everything was under control, and felt ashamed No matter: Umira was sensible and wouldn’t worry--yet Raia had shifted her perspective froround-level one, the day-to-day life of the keep, to a world seen from an elevated position in every sense of the word The experiences of the last few days had raised her eyes She leaned forward a little to get a better view of the terrain as Forze descended over the Vadam coast

I had no idea all this was possible

Why are these decisions all made by males? Why don’t I have a say in this? Why did I never seek to have one?

She had poithin the keep, the power over bloodlines and control of the estate, a responsibility that deterone: but that wasn’t the same This here the next day, the next week, the next year was decided This here things happened that could render al the slower, subtler decisions irrelevant The choices were made by warriors on battlefields, and she wasn’t consulted Her fear for Jul’s safety was tinged with anger at being left behind to pick up the pieces

Dead ahead, Mount Kolaar was a jagged spearhead shape stabbing the sky, its lower slopes curtained with smoke She could stil see sporadic plasma flashes If Jul was a prisoner of the Arbiter and held in Vadam keep, then that was the worst place he could possibly be Fire shot out fro intervals, and fire spat back There see to dislodge the Arbiter?" she asked "We used to be able to destroy entire worlds in the course of a day"

"Because destroying so your own is suicide," Forzehas a lock on us--"

Raia saw a control panel indicator change color and begin pulsing as Forze swung the Phantom around an alrabbed for the closest solid object--the cockpit trim in front of her--as a hot white streak passed wide of the viewscreen and suddenly the sky was clear again The layer of srubby cloud

"Anti-air defenses," Forze said "Enough of that nonsense"

He looped to the left and headed back over the coast The loop turned into a circle, and suddenly he was accelerating back inland again,lower across the tops of trees and buildings until he was about to crash into them, and then-- Raia wanted to shut her eyes but couldn’t We’re going to crash We’re going to crash We’re going to die

The Phantom shuddered as if it had been kicked Raia’s field of vieas bleached out by an instant bal of light, then resolved into a pil ar of flame and black smoke just as the noise of an explosion hit her in the chest She felt the shock wave al the way through to her spine

"That’l teach the traitor," Forze said He didn’t see "Got hio of the curved cockpit section and sat up, trying to regain her composure "Got what?"

"The ies for the close detonation, Raia"

So that was a strafing run, a bo like that She’d heard Jul use those words over the years and never real y takenand deafening and so fast that he didn’t have time to think Then she would have understood

But perhaps he didn’t find it frightening at alPerhaps he switched into glacial calm Perhaps he even enjoyed the exhilaration Orto kil hilad," she said

"I shouldn’t do this with you on board" Forze shook his head slowly "But then if I had any sense, I should have diverted to Mda you back to a battle Itwith you, but this won’t help you find Jul"

Yes, she realized that She also knew that she couldn’t just sit at home and wait by thelike soas She kne that she would never be able to do that again even if--no, when, it had to be when--Jul came back She had no a to be excluded froain, either

"There were once female swordmasters," she reminded him

"I have heard of one "

"A principle is not about numbers A convention either is, or is not That one-- is "

"Please don’t tel me you want to be a warrior"

"No But I should have the choice"

Forze snapped his jaws a few times, obviously lost for words "I swear it, Jul wil snap my neck when he finds out what I’ve let you becoain Raia braced for the flash, shudder, and explosion, but none ca slowly over ‘Telcaanized than they’d been when she’d left for Acroli Warriors were roups, Revenants and other transports were lined up on the flanks, and there were even defensive barriers being built, Sangheili and Unggoy digging trenches and piling up earthworks side by side They seee