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"I thought he was listed aseach ith absolute precision Vaz detected a slight shift in tone now, slowing and lowering pitch, like she wasa statement "Yes, dead Spartans always are, and we can stil hope that he’s out there soot to be realistic"

"I assu concrete that I can tel you yet The other na to bother you is Catherine Halsey UNSC’s now declared her dead so that they can release records Nobody as left on Reach could have survived Anyway, I’ood people"

Osht Halsey was one of the He turned his head as casual y as he could, just to check if there was a spark of that same doubt on anyone else’s face, but he couldn’t telHe was drinking too much of that ONI coffee Maybe that stuff was special y blended to keep their field operatives at ardless "Now, the rest of the business Adhelios for talks with the Arbiter, so we’l be standing by to keep an eye on that We ht also end up diverted to the Onyx sector to assist with an anomaly" Osman seemed to be focused on Naomi, so maybe she orried about her reaction to the news about the Master Chief "Okay, Onyx isn’t a secret You’ve probably worked out one way or another that Parangosky quarantined it for our own extrey purposes, but the planet isn’t there anymore It broke up It was a Forerunner satel ite made of mil ions of defensive robotic constructs, but we think there’s a slipspace shelter at the core that survived the destruction"

"And we need to acquire the technology," Mal said

"Probably, but we ht have UNSC personnel trapped there in need of extraction, and I think that’l interest us more Any questions?"

"Do we knoho?" Devereaux asked

"Maybe," Ose the subject to so at him "This business with Admiral Hood, ma’am If this is al part of a peace treaty, how does that affect our mission?"

"It doesn’t," Osman said "And it doesn’t enuine, shakes Hood’s hand, and asks him to marry his sister We know daheili, let alone the rest of the assorted rabble out there So we carry on, and if Hood e-heads, then that’s terrific But if he doesn’t, then we’re stil there in the background ain"

"And should we knoho Halsey is?"

"Chief scientist at ONI," Osman said Vaz decided she had so by the set of her jaw "Creator of the Spartan program It’s only fair to warn you that there’l be so about her Bril iant, yes, and the Spartans changed the course of the war, but her e her kindly"

Naoht have been able to keep up that unblinking Spartan stoicisestures He could see her pressing her lips together htly with every e her, Captain?" Mal asked

Osed "If I tel you, I have to reveal classified infor that from you because it’s classified, but because it’s extremely personal, and I think I’d like to talk to Naomi privately before the rest of you hear it"

You could have cut the tension on that bridge with a blunt plastic butter knife Vaz interpreted it as a suggestion to get lost and leave Osirl chat

"You’re always pretty straight with us, , but ant you to know that we appreciate it"

Os like she wanted to curl up and hide, and she wasn’t the shrinking violet type There was definitely so on here

"If I ask you to put your lives on the line, the least I can do is to tel you as much of the truth as I can," she said "I know I often ask your opinion rather than give you clear orders, but that’s because you’ve al got a hel of a lot more co up on a biblical scale, I want you to tel me so"

Some marines liked cast-iron certainty in an officer, but Vaz was happy to settle for intel igent honesty Officers who knehat they didn’t knoere rare ge she asked hiosky’s protégé, after al , and he couldn’t iet the best out of her people

No Sometimes you have to accept that people mean what they say

Likeable officer or not, she stil had to do some difficult stuff with Naomi "Okay, people, dismiss," she said "We need a little while to talk, ar deck, as ive anyone in this ship Adj fol owed the the equipment in the smal comms workstation that Phil ips had set up to one side of the deck

"I know you’re there, BB" Mal looked up at the deckhead "Just be a good mate and let us knoe can do for Naomi, wil you? Because I know bad nehen I see it"

BB’s avatar appeared below the gantry "Now you knohy the captain’s been tel ing you so ood a tis we’ve done"

"Yeah, that’s a lot easier now that this Halsey woine what could possibly be worse than kidnapping six- year-olds and shooting them up with hormones and ceramic implants "Very convenient of her Always best not to mention it while they’re alive and can stil na man, Vasily," BB said "Very wel , I promise I’l keep you up to speed on Naomi--with her consent"

BB disappeared and the three ODSTs stood there in silence with Phil ips Vaz was suddenly aware of pinging and scratching noises co out of Phil ips’s co the equipuy, isn’t he?" Phil ips said, going to check on the frantic re "Okay, okay, I’l keep him out of the main systeed "She’s half Spartan"

"Yeah," said Devereaux "But the other half is purebred spook That’s not the kind of pet you can trust with your kids"

"I don’t care," Vaz said "I like her And what the hel are , anyway?"

Vaz didn’t kno long Osman talked to Naomi, but it was a couple of hours before the Spartan ca had happened But then she was pretty good at battening down the hatches as long as she had a few moments to compose herself before she had to face everyone It was al part of the psychology of spending a lot of ti Vaz understood al too welHe passed her on the way to the heads and gave her a you-can-talk-to- eye contact for a few extra seconds

"How’s it going?" he asked