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They were here because Admiral Whitcoet at least six hours of sleep The machine shop was a solid room, reinforced, and un- likely to breach in case they were attacked again

Linda sat in the corner with her helmet, back torso, and shoul- der MJOLNIR armor sections removed

Fred and Will used two robotic ared plates and components with the spare parts they'd found in ONI's CASTLE facility on Reach

Angry red scars crisscrossed Linda's pale body--the only external trace of her double transplant operation Against Dr

Halsey's advice for strict bed rest, Linda had hobbled down here with her teaed before a disasseyro compensators, optics, and adaptive texture barrel sheaths Linda proceeded to re- asseup froet a couple of days' R-and-R in this outfit"

"I heard," Fred re, too"

"That's why she likes to snipe," Will replied "I caught her snoring last tilad they could joke about her return froh He had accepted the ht him to re- press his external eht now, he resented that

Kelly rolled over and woke up She nudged Grace, and they sat up, shaking their helmets "0400," Kelly told them "That was six hours"

"Felt like a fifteen-minute nap," Grace ht?"

Kelly looked over to Linda and drew her two fingers across her helesture Linda returned a rare, bare smile to her

The s iven hih the Gettysburg whom Admiral Whitcomb trusted too much, nor the iines and weapons could be repairedand certainly not the hundreds of dead crew , whoo bay seven

The slight click of metal on metal alerted every Spartan in the room Pistols drew in a blur of motion and rifles leveled at the side hatch as it eased open with a squeak

Sergeant Johnson and Corporal Locklear stood in the doorway-- frozen

"No one told et practice," Locklear muttered

"Else I woulda painted a bull's-eye onas you requested"

John nodded and lowered his gun, as did the other Spartans

"Come in, Marines"

As he holstered his weapon, John's hand brushed against the belt compartment that held Dr Halsey's data crystals He hadn't decided which to give to Lieutenant Haverson Did he sacrifice the Sergeant to save billions from potential Flood infestation?

Did it even matter? He had every reason to believe that the Flood had been destroyed with Halo--but what if he rong?

"I wanted you both down here to help us discuss our tactical options," John told them

The COM pulsed to life Dr Halsey said, "Master Chief?"

"Yes, Doctor?"

"I need Kelly to report to Medical Four," she said "She requires one last injection of dermacortic steroids And I could use her assistance on another matter"

John nodded to Kelly

She slowly stretched, stood, sighed, and ht back," she said, flexing her burned hands

"Don't plan the overthrow of the Covenant Empire without me"

"She's on her way, Doctor"

The COM snapped off

The Master Chief turned to his Spartans and the Marines

"Let's go over e know and see if we've -- any way to exploit the ene upon its surface

"The Covenant are on their way to Earth," he told the en masse to the Sol systeet to Earth first," Linda answered, "our Fleet will be waiting for them, and"--she pulled back the bolt on her rifle with a clack--"they'll give them a warm reception"

"But what chance will our forces have?" Will asked There was no fear in his voice, just cool logic "You saw Cortana's report There will be hundreds of Covenant warships I don't think our Fleet or even Earth's orbital MAC platforms can repel a force that powerful"

"No," the Chief quietly said "They can't win They'll try But the Covenant will eventually take down one of the orbital MACs, slip through, and pick off the ground-based generators

Just like on Reach"

Fred visibly flinched

Locklear twisted the red bandanna he had tied on his biceps

"So we get to watch another fight in space?" he hissed His fists treet to those bastards first--on the ground where we can win Hell, I'd even takein zero gee and watching Earth get burned"

"What about our original mission?" Linda asked "Find the Covenant home world?"

"Our priority has to be to warn Earth," the Chief answered

"Admiral Whitcomb would insist and he has the authority to scrub our mission"