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"This one's for you, Polaski," he whispered

Locklear set the timer for three seconds, and punched the countdown He dived for cover behind the robotic dolly and cov- ered his head

The brilliant flash of sapphire light was the last thing he ever saw

SECTION 6

OPERATION:

FIRST STRIKE

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

0510 hours, September 13,2552 (revised date, Military Calendar) \ Aboard hybrid vessel Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice, in Slipspace

The Master Chief and his team, which now consisted of Grace, Linda, Will, and Fred, had been ordered to report to the Officers' Club--nor about their circu ti's O-Club had a es and scorches froars casu- ally set upon its surface There was a bar stocked with bottles containing a rainbow collection of liquors, dusted with shattered crystal The roo along those walls was the UNSC gold-fringed blue flag There were also gold and silver citation plaques for allantry There were photos of officers and past Captains of the Gettysburg And uerreotypes that displayed battlefields full of chargingflash and thunder

Adeant Johnson entered the rooid attention "Officer on deck!" the Master Chief shouted, and they all saluted

"At ease," Admiral Whitcomb said "Please sit down"

The Master Chief stepped forward "With respect, these chairs will not support the weight of our gear, Admiral"

"Of course," the Admiral said "Well, make yourselves as co" He snorted

"I just wanted to see as left on board and alive" He looked past the open doors to the Officers' Club "Lieutenant Haverson will join us shortly He's investigating the site of Corporal Lock-lear's accident"

A holographic projector pad upon the bar flickered to life, and Cortana's slender body appeared Chunks of broken crystal on the pad refracted the light and distorted her ie so she ap- peared half eant Johnson stepped over to the bar and swept the pad clean

"Thank you, Sergeant," Cortana said, looking over her re-sorted figure

"My pleasure," he replied with a grin

Cortana faced the Admiral "Sir," she said, "you'll be happy to hear that I'nals, residual radiation, or any transient contactswhich is precisely what you would expect frohed, and eased into one of the leather-backed chairs at the table's head "Well, that's one s"

"And here's evidence that Doctor Halsey's crystal was indeed destroyed," Lieutenant Haverson said as he entered the room He paused to seal the door behind him

Haverson sat next to the Ad flat on the table "I found Locklear exactly where Cortana said he would be: B-Deck, the e room Overloaded electronics at the site are consistent with a high-energy radiation burstas are the burns on the Corporal's body"

He gri, his death was quick And these"--he tapped the plastic bag on the table--"are crystalline fraglance they appear to be a match to the shard found on Reach" He shook his head "But what I found isn't sufficient mass to account for the entire crystal So unless it was atomized and left no trace, a fact inconsistent with the presence of these larger pieces, then the rest of that crystal has to be somewhere else"

Cortana tapped her foot, and one of her eyebrows arched "If the radiation burst detected before our jump correlates with the destruction of Doctor Halsey's crystal," she said, "then there is an alternative explanation The ti between that explosion and the radiation flare was only forty-seven milliseconds Since the crystal had unusual space- and timents may have been 'squeezed' out of the ship and into Slipspace"

Haverson asked incredulously, "You reat- est scientific discovery in hu--"lost in Slipspace?"

"Yes," Cortana replied She shrugged "I'et to it any with his thick finger

"Or if they do, they're only going to find a bunch of busted fragments"

"I just wish I knehy Locklear did it," Haverson said

Everyone was quiet John and the other Spartans shifted un- easily in their heavy MJOLNIR areant Johnson cleared his throat "The boy was a little on edge After all he'd been through, you'd expect that But he was an ODST--tough as nails and twice as sharp and used to getting pounded He wouldn't crack He had a reason"

"Doctor Halsey," Haverson remarked and narrowed his eyes

"She had to have set this up"

John started to defend Dr Halsey, but he stopped hi with an officer Yes, her actions were inexplicable: She had exfiltrated Kelly, left theiven Locklear the alien artifact John still wanted to trust her, though Perhaps whatever she was up to was for the greater good

"Let's not start this," the Admiral said "I don't want anyone's perceptions colored by us discussing the 'whys' and 'what ifs' of this situation Save it for the debriefing they're going to give us e get back" He cast a sideways glance at the bar and un- consciously smacked his lips "Fro, and we can finally relax"

"Permission to speak, Admiral," the Chief said

"Granted Speak your mind"

"I don't wish to contradict you, sir, but perhaps it shouldn't be s And maybe we shouldn't relax"

Ad to like thisbut explain yourself, Chief"

The Master Chief outlined his mission plan, how he and his team would take a Covenant dropship and insert into the ren- dezvous location for the invading Covenant fleet They would then infiltrate their co Hierophant, and destroy it; that would hopefully cripple the Covenant forceor at least slow theh to buy Earth time to reinforce their defenses

The Ad and flatly replied, "Mission request denied"

"Acknowledged, sir" He re, at stiff attention

Whitcomb frowned, as the other Spartans also snapped to at- tention and rehed