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"He real y doesn’t want anyone else there when the handover takes place," Buran said "I wonder if he trusts us Or perhaps he thinks we’re losing our nerve"

Jul made an instant decision--not a rash one, a rapid one--and turned to head back to the keep "There’s so I must do I’l talk with you later"

"Jul, wait, we ht of the quarry, Jul broke into a run andassortment of smal vessels that had started to asse and who he wasrong and ‘Telcam failed to return one day

The kind of creatures ould sel the monk weapons would just as easily betray hiher price Jul fired up his shuttle’s drive and took the routine flight path out of Mda for vessels on his trail, and Jul could hang behind him at a discreet distance and perhaps even work out his destination without needing to land

He set his shuttle to maintain a fixed distance behind the Contrition and sat back to study the sensor screens After six hours, Jul decided ‘Telca for the Narumad systelasslands That was their disrespectful ter fire of a plasood a place as any to have an unnoticed rendezvous And to hide warships, of course

‘Telcaan to fol ow a more specific course two hours later He was on a trajectory for a world that appeared on Jul’s charts as Laqil, but that the hued to establish only a handful of sprawling settlements and it hadn’t needed much attention to restore it to its prehu him on his screen, and landed in the lee of a hil about a kilometer from where the shuttle had touched down

So noe’ll see your shy associates… He ht of it, skylined by the glaring silver reflection of the vitrified plain beyond: a hu about a hundred -Yar, then The ver they could find

The hu-Yar looting, though It bristled with electronics masts that extended froray material so etting very a-Yar friends A rather expensive toy for the the scrubby bushes like a sly human Even at this distance, he could hear ‘Telcaed forward a meter at a time until he had a clear view of the co that… A hu in the cockpit, a fe with controls above the viewscreen It confir-Yar and scattered human colonists had now found common cause in the aftermath of the Covenant’s destruction They were kindred spirits in too many ways ‘Telcam should have known better than to do business with the with his disbelief about such crass naiveté when he saw soet out of the dropship It was another human female, but this was no opportunist from the civilian colonists She walked with the confident authority of so a UNSC uniforht wars?

Sheher pockets The war’s over and nobody’s checking the ar He knew little of hues, but ‘Telcam--inevitably--was colish Jul recognized the sounds even if the words

"I hear your Admiral Hood plans to visit the Arbiter," ‘Telca, he was a little uneasy with her Jul could hear the lower note in his voice "Would you like me to kil him for you, Captain?"

The female officer, one hand on her hip and the other on the holster of her sidears, Field Master

It wouldn’t serve either of our purposes"

"Your government isof you…"

Jul didn’t hear the rest of the sentence Soe and heavy smashed into him from the side like ahi there was some wild animal that he’d failed to take account of on this old- as he’d thought it was

It was one of the human demons, the soldiers they cal ed Spartans

Not only had it round, but it also had hi it aits fist down into his face

The Spartan was many times heavier than any human Jul had ever swatted aside with the back of his hand The powerful doard blow broke his teeth He tried to yel a warning, but he couldn’t, choking on tooth frag his claws into impossibly hard armor

The Spartan punched hirip on its throat Then boots appeared on the ground around his head and so smashed into his skul once, twice, three times Stunned, he stil tried to pul free But he was now pinned by several arer Its knee was right across his throat It could have crushed his windpipe, but it see

Maybe it wanted to watch hieance for al the comrades it had lost to the Covenant If that was the case, Jul wouldn’t give it the satisfaction of reacting

But how could I let this happen? How could hu I will die like a warrior I will not let it see h he was certain he was kicking furiously, he didn’t see hi up with blood and spittle

"Spying on the Bishop Tut tut" The voice came from one of the others, not the Spartan, and it wasconsciousness when he found himself suddenly just interested in the faceless creature choking the life out of hiul ible shipht back froain, and he’d always thought those wild exaggerations were cowards’ excuses for losing battles But this one was everything the rumors had said

It tookht? Perhaps they can’t

He should have cal ed out for help froue with theht he would be afraid to die He’d faced death so many times that he was used to it, familiar with the flood of terrified excitement, certain that if the end came then his clan would know that he reat transcendence helpless and struggling, unable even to inflict darace And disgrace terrified him far more than death