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If any one of the Spartans could be called a "lone wolf," it was Linda In est of them
To see her like this
John wiped away the condensation that formed over her hel-meted head She was neither dead nor alive She was in soht place in between
That uncertainty orse than seeing her broken and burned body on Gamma Station It felt like an open wound in John's chest
Linda's prognosis was good The occupants of the other two cryopods hadn't e had de- activated the units, and those inside had died cold bleak deaths
There was a gentle knock on the hull of the Pelican, and Sergeant Johnson pulled hiot the air scrubbers? The remote COM? Polaski says she's ready to call it a day with that Covenant dropship We need to get on board and work"
The Master Chief stood and nodded to the aft hatch, where he had stripped the air scrubbers and COM froear, and then he and the Chief crawled out of the Pelican The Chief hesitated and looked back atthecryotube
"Don't you worry about her," Johnson said "Hell, I been hit worse and she's three tih"
The Chief sealed the hatch without comment He had heard the same hollow promises a hundred times before with critically wounded men Why was it that soldiers would face their own deaths without blinking an eye but when faced with the death of a squadmate, they turned away and lied to thear It had been cleared of debris and bodies, and Warrant Officer Polaski had, for the last six hours, been practicing inside the space with the intact Covenant dropship She spun the odd U-shaped craft around on its center axis, shi
Johnson squinted his dark eyes at her perforured out the weapon controls, too No way to test them in here, of course"
"Understood," the Master Chief replied "And the rest of the teae and to the engine rooeant Johnson told him "If those transient sensor contacts that Cortana keeps picking up are anything, they'll have to cut through to get to us
"Locklear's grabbing soed "He'll be fine, though; ODSTs are tough as nails Lieutenant Haverson slept so conversation with Cortana, and started reading through some of the Covenant database Everyone seeh"
"Understood," the Chief said "Cortana? Ship status?"
"ETA to Reach in twenty minutes," she said
The Chief checked his mission clock "You said thirteen hours' total travel tio"
"I had determined it would be thirteen hours based on the spec- ifications of the Covenant Slipspace drive, but there's " Her voice trailed off and faded
"Cortana?"
"Sorry There's a curious tih, technically, velocity, acceleration, and for thatin the folds of Slipspace I thought I told you all this," she said
Irritation crept into her voice
The Chief looked to the Sergeant, who shook his head and shrugged
Cortana sounded s It was a bad sign They depended on her to fly this ship, and if she started falling apart they were in real trouble
The Master Chief opened a COM channel "Change of plans, tearab your gear and e ASAP"
There was a pause, then Lieutenant Haverson replied, "Roger, Master Chief Locklear and I are already up here"
The hatch of the Covenant dropship opened, and Polaski jogged out The three of thee
The Master Chief opened a private COM channel to Cortana
"Anything else I should know?"
The channel was silent for a full ten seconds "I have the Covenant ured out," she replied "We'll have a liet to Reach, if we need it I think"
"And the rest of this ship is still functional?"
"Yes," she replied "I'm sorry, Chiefthese calculations aretricky"
The COM went dead
Cortana's behavior worried the Chief, but he resigned himself to trust her What other option was there?
He, the Sergeant, and Polaski halted outside the bridge; the thick blast doors were sealed
"Lieutenant?" he said "We're outside"
The doors pulled apart Locklear and the Lieutenant stood with their assault rifles aimed down the hall They relaxed their stance when they identified the his rifle and said, "Sorry for the elco up transient contacts all over the ship We're going to have to deal with thereed," the Chief said
Polaski approached the Lieutenant, saluted, and gave her report on her efforts to ed closer to the Chief and the Sergeant "What do you think, Sarge?" he whispered and cast a furtive glance at Polaski "I et over, but I can get past that You think there's a chance that she and I? Iyourself and walking the rest of the way to Reach," the Sergeant declared "In your skivvies"
"Give e" A smile split Locklear's tanned face, and he turned to the Master Chief "Sure, I get it Wouldn't be so defensive if I hadn't been close to the ht?"
The Master Chief stared at Locklear and slowly shook his head
Locklear's suys are just jealous," he er over the scar that lined his jaw "That's cool I get that all the time"
Locklear's spirits had ies, the Chief had seen him in combat He didn't panic, and he had the skill and luck to survive Halo--qualities the Master Chief knew they'd need if they were ever going to get back
"Exiting Slipspace," Cortana announced, "in threetwo
one"
According to the Master Chief's ht minutes since Cortana had told him their ETA was nineteen minutes Was there more to the tihts di the wall Stars winked into existence, and at three o'clock blazed the warm yellow orb of Epsilon Eridani