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At best, Ackerson’s actions were treason But Cortana wasn’t about to reveal all this to the ONI oversight committee Despite the Colonel’s methods, the UNSC still needed him--and his SpecWar specialists--in the war

Justice, however, would still be meted out

From the ONI database, she masqueraded as a routine credit check and entered the Colonel’s bank account--to which she wired a substantial aamesh She made sure the bank queries sent to confirm the transaction were copied to his home immediately Colonel Ackerson was a married manand his wife should be there to receive them

She cut into his personal E-nment to a forward area--to personnel Finally, she inserted a "ghost" record, an electronic footprint that identified the source of the alterations: Ackerson’s personal-co all of that, he’d be reassigned to field dutyand get back to fighting the Covenant where he belonged

With all loose ends neatly tied up, Cortana rechecked the Pillar of Autu nicely She tweaked the th, and part of her watched the output froines for fluctuations She inspected all weapons systems three times, and then went back to her own personal research

She considered hoell the Master Chief had perfor on the obstacle course He was more than Cortana could have hoped for The Master Chief was much more than Dr Halsey or the press releases had indicated

He was intelligentnot fearless, but as close to it as any human she had encountered His reaction time under stress was one-sixth the standard human norm More than that, however, Cortana had sensed that he had a certain--she searched her lexicon for the proper word--nobility He placed his mission and his duty and honor above his personal safety

She reexaround engageainst the Covenant, and been awarded every major service medal except the Prisoner of War Medallion

There were holes in his CSV, though The standard black-out sections courtesy of ONI, of coursebut most curious, all data before he entered active duty had been expunged

Cortana wasn’t about to let a mere erasure stop her She traced where the order to erase that data had originated Section Three Dr Halsey’s group Curious

She followed the order pathway--crashed into layers of counter code The code started a trace on her signal

She blocked it--and it restarted a trace of the origin of her block

This was a very well-crafted piece of counterintrusion software, far superior to the nore She withdrew frouarded way into ONI Section Three files

Cortana listened to the hu the surface of ONI’s secure network There was an unusual aes from ONI operatives She peered into them and unraveled their secrets as they passed her There were orders for ship movements and operatives outbound from Reach This must be the new directive to send scouts into the periphery systems and find the Covenant She saw several ships docked in Reach’s space docks--ONI stealth jobs made to look like private yachts They had cute, innocuous names: the Applebee , Circu she could use: Dr Halsey had just entered her laboratory She was at checkpoint three The doctor waited as her voice and retina patterns were being scanned

Cortana intercepted and killed the signal The verification system reset

"Please rescan retina, Dr Halsey," the system requested, "and repeat today’s code phrase in a normal voice"

Before Dr Halsey could do this, Cortana sent her own files of Dr Halsey’s retina and voice scans She had long ago copied them and occasionally they came in handy

Section Three verification opened for Cortana She had only a second before the doctor spoke and overrode the previous entry access

Cortana, however, was a lightning strike in the system She entered, searched, and found what she wanted Every piece of data on SPARTAN 117 was copied to her personal directory within seventyall traces of her queries back to her Ackerson "ghost"

She closed all connections and returned to the Pillar of Autu within normal parameters--and she sent a coe

Cortana examined the Master Chief’s coh time: his perforiven at ONI headquarters

She paused and pondered the signal the Covenant had sent froued, she tried to translate the sequence The syorithm and variation of the standard translation software she attempted, however, failed Puzzled, she set it aside to exa the data fromentations he and the other Spartans werethey had received; and how he had been abducted at the age of six, and a flash clone used to replace him in an ONI black op

All of it had been authorized by Dr Halsey

Cortana paused for a full three processor cycles churning this new data through her ethics subroutinesnot co How could Dr Halsey, as so concerned for her Spartans, have done this to them?

Of course--because it was necessary There was no other way to preserve the UNSC against rebellion and Covenant forces

Was Dr Halsey awhat had to be done to protect humanity? Perhaps a little of both

Cortana erased her stolen files No h in the pastit was done He was in Cortana’s care now She would do everything in her power--short of co ever happened to hiain