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Yeah, why don’t you try that, grandad? Go on See what you get But the punch didn’t come, and Vaz found himself disappointed

"And you’d like to think that you would have handled things differently," Mendez said

Vaz stared into his face, searching for any loss of nerve "There’s sos that you can’t do and stil cal yourself a man"

He waited for an explosion or a punch He didn’t dare look at Mal What he’d said didn’t change a daain with other people and other kids, but he’d said it That was better than not saying it

I don’t care if he’s the biggest damn hero in the UNSC and rescues blind kittens in his spare ti

"Yeah, I think I reached that conclusion a few years ago," Mendez said at last He didn’t see past hi on the bulkhead that only he could see "Next time I’l try to find my conscience before the event, not after it"

He drained his beer in one pul , tossed the can in the trash, and left

Mal turned to Vaz, arms stil folded "Feel better now?"

"Actual y, yes" Vaz didn’t plan to apologize "I do A sense of right and wrong is al we are"

Mal rol ed his eyes "If I knew the naood line to shoot back at you, but I don’t, and I haven’t," he said "So come on, what do you think should happen to Mendez? Okay, Halsey--it was her project But what are you going to do about people like Mendez and everyone else? How far down are you going to dril ?"

"As far as it takes Because it’s ordinary people who let it happen" Vaz busied hiht with Mal, and he didn’t want to discover anything about the guy that he didn’t respect Mal was his best friend They’d been through a lot together But it was a lot easier hel -ju with this kind of stuff "The s and the death caular people do If they al had the bal s to say no, the likes of Halsey, Zhou, or Stalin could never do it al on their own Could they?"

"I’et But you know bloody wel that ninety-nine percent of hu, even if they know it’s evil or plain stupid, because that’s the way hu my mouth shut about this "That’s not a defense"

"No, but would you tel ONI to shove it in the ht now"

"It wasn’t the middle of a war This was before the Covenant showed up It was about counterinsurgency, not genocide"

"So being kil ed by the Covenant is worse than being kil ed by souess us with the luxury of hindsight"

"This wasn’t some split-second decision under fire It was deliberate, it went on for twenty-odd years, and it involved kids How hard is it to work out that rong? Seriously, Mal, how hard?"

Soued for the hel of it Vaz wasn’t sure if he was arguing now or just trying to make sense of a bad situation, but this was suddenly personal, not a high school ethics debate Whatever Halsey--and Mendez--had done, they’d done it to Nao forever," Vaz said "I’ve got stuff to do"

He needed to go before he said soret And he had a promise to keep to Naomi He went to Osman’s day cabin and peered around the open door

She was in there with the Chief, so she was either about to repaint the bulkheads with his innards or she didn’t feel too badly about his involvement But that was her business--the individual Spartans were the only ones who had the right to forgive anyone

"I said I’d take a look at a file for Nao eye contact with Mendez

Osman nodded "Probably best done in your cabin BB can display it for you"

He had to ask "Have you read it, ma’am?"

"Yes"

"Would you read your o?"

She always looked hiaze flickered for a moment "No"

That told hi route back to his cabin to avoid everyone and flopped down on his bunk BB needed to be su the threshold, except for keeping his du eye on the environesture

"Coet this over with"

BB’s avatar popped up and the screen on the bulkhead switched fros on the cover than he’d ever seen in his life

"You’re doing a very kind thing, Vasily"

Vaz tried to mimic Mal’s accent, eh by now to realize this is going to s do"

"Cal ht crossed Vaz’s e fil ed the screen "You must have read al the files Osman’s too"

"Of course I have I am the files"

"But you don’t snoop in the cabins I just wondered where you draw the line"

"I’m required to know personnel details But it also helps osky"

BB vanished, which in this case meant he real y had withdrawn frouts knotted Naomi’s family name was Sentzke, she came from a colony world he’d never even heard of--Sansar--and she was an only child There were pages of reports signed by Halsey, detailing her exceptional genetic profile and so ful of jargon that he started skie that flashed up hit hiical assess after being snatched by ONI agents on the way ho, how , how often she asked for her iven day It would have been bad enough reading that about a total stranger, but it was al too close to home now