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It hy Halsey had picked Onyx It was aboutthere were Spartans there, Spartans she had to save It was a gamble on the Forerunners’ meticulous survival precautions

I’m lucky But we make our own luck

"I don’t have a problem with them, Chief, or I wouldn’t have come here to save them, would I?" she said Maybe that sounded too messianic She watched his eyes harden a littlethat sonitude from you"

"It’s cal ed need-to-know, ma’am, and I don’t decide who needs to I just fol oful orders" He gave her that look again, heavy-lidded, as if he was shaping up to spit on her "But you knewtwo and two together Fol owing the crumbs"

"And I’m sure you’re too professional to withhold any information from us that we need to stay alive"

Ouch "My only aim is to save the Spartans I think you can count on that"

Mendez looked away in silence and kept walking Halsey realized she wasto keep up with him I really wish I’d worn pants And I wish I was fitter We’re the sa his lead, one of those little psychological tel s He was the dominant individual now because this was his natural environerous--and not hers She didn’t like that at al

"Who told you not to ram to me?" she asked There was a chance it would never matter, but she had to know

Colonel Ackerson had hacked her confidential data, but that didn’t mean that his was the only score she’d have to settle "Ackerson? Parangosky?

Or both?"

"I was only told who I could telBut I wouldn’t have told you anyway" No, this wasn’t quite the Chief she was used to, the one who looked away and kept his counsel: rounding on Olivia had definitely provoked hi that we didn’t have good enough candidates and trying to get it shelved And I’d have told you that attitude truenetics every time"

"I know that I--"

Halsey didn’t have a personal radio, but everyone else did Mendez turned away from her instantly and responded to a cal she couldn’t hear

"Go ahead, sir" It had to be Fred "Where?"

Where The word ht It was pure instinct But when she caught sight of Kel y, the Spartan was looking up

"Daht," she said, and aimed

Halsey could see now There was a black dot in the picture-perfect blue sky, getting bigger by the second So down on them

Tom was nearest to her "Ma’a reflexes and sheer speed to reach her, it was Kel y But Tom cannoned into Halsey and pinned her down just as a charcoal gray cylinder the size of a wine bottle whisked by so close that she felt the rush of air on her face For aup at the lower edge of To for a ht, cheap stuff Thank God Three hundred kilos of Mjolnir ar over her on al fours, shielding her froet them He’d just pushed her down

"It’s okay It’s okay " That was Kel y Halsey heard her rifle click "I’ve got it It’s not doing anything"

Toot to his feet and helped Halsey up Kel y had her rifle trained on the cylinder, frozen at a silent hover two round

"Is that some kind of mini Sentinel?" Mendez asked "Because if it is, we’ve already seen the big ones And you knohat happens when those bastards link up"

For a ray device and corass It wasn’t a defensive machine like the deadly Sentinels they’d encountered on the surface It gave the ih it had dived on the her away, and looked at the underside A cluster of lights--no, il uminated syreenish white The blue ones were blinking

It could have been counting down to detonate, of course The Forerunners would have gone to a lot of trouble to ensure no unwanted life-forms contaminated this sanctuary Halsey stil had no evidence that the sphere’s apparent tolerance of hu what’l happen if I shoot it," Kel y said "And size doesn’t ht, O?"

Olivia suddenly appeared froe was creeping on

"Shal el , catch it?" Olivia asked "We’re supposed to be acquiring technology here"

Kel y reached out, slow and cautious for once She was a finger-length from the cylinder when it shot up in a perfect vertical and vanished before she could target it

"Damn, I’ve final y been outrun," she said "Oh, the sha He was talking to Fred’s squad on the radio Halsey’s sto her of the top priority

"It’l be back," she said "And I’d like to take it alive" She turned to To his scalp He was just as lu as the other Spartan-IIIs, with dark hair and a bruise on his chin that was already turning yel ow at the ins "Is that from when Kurt knocked you out?"

"Yes" Tom stared at a point between his boots and blinked a few times "I’d never have left him to hold off the Elites on his own"

"It’s okay, I know you wouldn’t" Halsey wasn’t sure if she was trying harder because Mendez had snarled at her or if she real y did feel a pang of regret "Saving someone is a reflex Nobody who’s wired that way thinks about it Do they?"

To chances, ma’am You’re the only one here who can read a Forerunner menu, aren’t you?"