“BB,” she said, “I need to ask a favor of you. A little extra assistance for Osman.”

“Certainly, Admiral. I think I know what’s coming.”

“Could you leave a little of your inimitable self in this ship to counter Aine’s sensors? You’re awful y good at planting false information.”

“I’m a prince amongst framers, ma’am. I could incriminate the Archangel Gabriel for armed robbery if you needed me to.”

“I know. If Stanley shoots down anything, I’d like the sensors to record that the fire came from a Sangheili vessel. Perhaps even Kig-Yar. They’re already in ‘Telcam’s bad books, aren’t they?”

“Already taken care of, Admiral. Aine’s a very good mechanic, but she lacks a certain imagination.”

“Bless you, BB.” Now it was time to be the matriarch, wise and comforting. “Look, you’re going to be al right with this damaged fragment. Don’t fret about it.”

“I won’t. I just feel a little too squeamish at the moment to take a look at it.”

“I can understand that. But you’l cope with it. Parangosky out.”

She checked her watch, then got up to get a bag of crystal ized ginger from her grip. Osman wouldn’t need it when every ship in the fleet had the new drives, but for the time being Parangosky would make sure that she knew somebody cared that slipspace jumps made her nauseous. Morale was built on those things. So was trust and friendship.

She tucked a bottle of cologne in the bag as wel , then pressed the comms key.

“Engineering,” she said. “This is Admiral Parangosky. Ask Adj and Leaks Repaired to report to the shuttle, please. And don’t mention it to Dr.

Halsey.”

There was one more job to do before she could join them. She needed to talk to Mike Spenser, the man who would know only too wel what the Kig-Yar might do with a former Covenant battlecruiser.

THIRTY KILOMETERS NORTH OF ACROLI, SANGHELIOS “Right, BB,” said Mal, stabbing a finger in the direction of the Phantom waiting on the other side of the field. “I want the chin-gun kept trained on that bloody thing, and I’m going to sit on the door gun until Dev’s done her repairs. Got it?”

“Let me talk to them,” Phil ips said. “I can smooth this over.”

He tried to stand up but Vaz pushed him back down in the seat as kindly as he could. The Elite dropship had landed about a hundred meters away but nobody had climbed out of it yet. Vaz watched it, waiting for the trouble to start.

“Evan, if you get taken again, they could sel you on to any bunch of thugs or nutters.” Vaz didn’t seem to be able to get it across to him that he’d been lucky to survive this far. “You’ve got a value now. You know things. Do I have to spel it out? ONI’s gone in and killed agents to protect information before.”

Phil ips didn’t bat an eyelid. “I know the Sangheili better than you do.”

“No, you don’t.” Vaz pul ed his helmet off and jutted out his jaw to remind Phil ips of his scar. “That’s who they are. You saw New Llanel i, al the glassing— that’s who they are. You can play with that damn arum and quote their poetry al you like, but they exterminate humans. It’s what they do.”

Phil ips went to get up again. This time it was Naomi who smacked him down in his seat.

“You need to concentrate on what you came here for,” she said. “Get your data uploaded. What about BB’s fragment?”

“Oh, better leave that,” BB said, unconvincingly casual. “If there’s a problem reintegrating it, I could end up compromised. I need to be back on board Stanley to run diagnostics.”

“Is that my other persona?” a voice asked. “Am I going to be al right now?”

“Sorry. I’d told him to shut up.” Phil ips looked down at his jacket as if he’d spil ed food on it. “The radio cam was damaged and I tried to fix it, but I think it triggered the security purge. This BB doesn’t remember anything except the nonclassified stuff. I’ve tried to explain who he is so that he’s not too traumatized when he … wel , whatever you do when you reintegrate, BB.”

Vaz squatted in the doorway, peering out under the port wing. It was weird to hear two different BBs talking. The one in Phil ips’s radio sounded like a stranger. Vaz almost didn’t want to listen because it felt intrusive, like hearing his grandmother going senile. BB could delete it, though, couldn’t he? He could just take out the data segments and ditch the rest. If only organic brains could do that. Mal shoved into the space next to him, switched the door gun to manual, and swung it into position.

“Okay, Dev, you’re covered,” he cal ed. “Out you go.”

Devereaux jumped down from the starboard door with a canister of metal foam and ducked under the wing. Naomi fol owed her. There was stil no movement in the Phantom. Vaz wondered if the hinge-head was flying it on his own and didn’t like the odds.

“How’s it looking, Dev?” Mal asked.

Devereaux sounded as if she was scrambling up the hul . “I can fil in the skin, but it’s going to take some time to repair the conduits. I might have to just seal off the lines and risk overheating. Anything beats letting the Sangheili get their hands on her.”

“Or us.” Mal switched over to Stanley’s channel, triggering the feed in Vaz’s HUD. “Ma’am, are you getting this? Dev’s trying to fix the coolant.”

“I can see it, Staff,” Osman said. “BB’s monitoring the comms. Forze’s trying to contact ‘Telcam.”

“What’s he asking?”

“Whether he should let you go or stop you leaving.”

“We could just fire an Anvil up his turbine now, ma’am. That might attract more of them, though, and we can’t make a fast getaway.”

“Just let me talk to them,” Phil ips murmured.

Osman carried on like she hadn’t heard him. “We can probably give you some assistance if you need it. The cavalry’s arrived, al six kilometers of it. Wel , five and a bit. We’ve got some pruning to do to make sure the Arbiter–‘Telcam game is a draw, so I’m anxious to get you off Sanghelios pronto.”

“Oh. That cavalry. Is her paint dry yet?”

“Maybe not. No carpets, but she’s fast and nasty.”

“We’l let you know if we can’t fix it. The fewer people we have to extract, the better. Keep it simple.”

“Don’t take any more risks. I’ve told BB to spy on you and alert me if you do.”

“Understood, ma’am. Kilo-Five out.”

Vaz watched Mal’s expression brighten. He could put on a brave face at the end of the world, but there was resilient, and then there was pleased.

He was verging on pleased.

“They haven’t sent Infinity al this way for us,” Vaz said. “Seriously?”

“Nah, they’re rattling the galaxy’s biggest saber.”

“Saber wasn’t the word I had in mind.”

“Yes, it’s al very Freudian. Ours is bigger than theirs.” Mal leaned on the door gun again. “Let’s just get this done and RTB. Oh … here we go.

Look.”

The ramp of the Phantom began to lower. Vaz sighted up. He had no idea how many Elites were in there, one or a whole platoon, but he’d make sure he got them before they got him. Mal’s grip tightened on the trigger.

“It’s not like them to hang around,” he said.

Two hinge-heads came down the ramp, one in a shipmaster’s armor and the other a smal er figure—possibly a female—in a fabric tunic. The female stopped at the foot of the ramp while the shipmaster carried on toward Tart-Cart with his pistol held at his side.

“They’re heading this way, Dev,” Vaz said. “You two want to get inside?”

The shipmaster suddenly looked toward the tail of the dropship. It must have been Naomi. A Spartan could always get a hinge-head’s attention.

He slowed down and final y stopped about thirty meters from Tart-Cart.

“Okay, BB, translate for me,” Vaz said. He slid down from the door and took a couple of paces toward the shipmaster. “So you’re Forze, are you?”

“I am,” said the hinge-head. “‘ Telcam told me to find Philliss and bring him back, because he needs to honor a promise. Who are you?”

“We’re UNSC marines,” Vaz said. “Does ODST mean anything to you?”

“Ah, the fools who arrive conveniently packaged in their own coffins.”

“Wel , we’ve got Phil ips, and we’re heading home as soon as we’re ready.” Vaz thought he was doing real y wel . He was having a civilized conversation with a hinge-head when al he real y wanted to do was open fire and make sure it never got the chance to kil another human. “What are you waiting for?”

“Because I don’t know why ‘Telcam would do a favor for humans, and that’s a question that would have troubled a comrade of mine.”

Mal said nothing. Naomi walked into Vaz’s peripheral vision from the left, slow and deliberate. This was the awkward bit: ‘Telcam couldn’t tel his pals that he was getting arms from ONI. Vaz could see why al this looked dodgy to them. Forze meant Jul. Jul had fol owed ‘Telcam to a handover and that was when Naomi had jumped him. The monk didn’t seem to inspire trust in his sidekicks.

“Forze, it’s okay.” Phil ips stuck his head out of the door. Forze stared at him. “These are my friends. Ask ‘Telcam. He needs me to get home safely. Go on, ask him.”

“Get back inside, Phil ips,” Mal whispered. “Now. ”

Vaz kept a wary eye on the female. This could have been a clever distraction, and he’d seen what hinge-head women could do in a fight. She was watching, head cocked, very intent. She had a plasma pistol in her belt, though. That was warning enough for Vaz.

“Is that your wife?” he asked. He couldn’t judge the age of Elites and he wasn’t worried about offending them. “Daughter?”

Forze didn’t look around at her. Vaz didn’t blame him for not turning his back on humans.

“My friend’s wife,” Forze said. “She came with me to search for him. Why?”

Phil ips was stil being a pain in the ass. He wouldn’t get back inside and Vaz was on the verge of shoving him out of the way. The best he could do was to raise a discreet warning finger.

Keep it zipped, Prof.

“What was your friend’s problem with ‘Telcam?” Phil ips asked, taking no damn notice.

“He wanted to know where he got his supplies. Jul always asks awkward questions.”

He’d let the name slip. Wel , that didn’t take them any further. They knew al the connections.

Phil ips stil went on, though. “So this is Jul’s wife.”

“What does that matter to you?” Forze asked.

“I’m trying to work out what I need to tel you to convince you that these are the people ‘Telcam was going to hand me over to.”

Forze looked down his nose at Phil ips. Vaz stood by to cut off any more conversation. Then Forze turned for a second and cal ed out to the female. “Raia, try to contact ‘Telcam again. Tel him there are coffin-worms here who say they have a right to take Phil ips.”

“Say the name Osman to him,” Phil ips cal ed. Vaz decided enough was enough and got back into the crew bay to shove him out of sight. “Then he’l know it’s okay.”

“Phil ips, shut up, wil you?” Vaz bundled him inside and held him back. “What the hel are you doing?”

“Authenticating.” He seemed upset, looking from side to side. “And realizing what I am.”

“Alive. That’s what you are, so let’s keep it that way.” So that was Jul’s wife. It wasn’t a happy thought and he could see that it upset Phil ips, but that was just too bad. Nobody had asked the hinge-heads to start a war with humans so now they had to live with the consequences. “Stay inside and shut up.”

Phil ips looked a little hurt. Vaz went back to the door and squatted beside Mal. Forze was just standing there, arms at his sides. There was no sign of the female.

“Where did she go?” Vaz asked.

“Back in the ship,” Mal muttered. “Christ, this is bloody weird. I’m not cut out for this secret squirrel stuff. What’s Phil ips up to? Trying to forge some bond with them so they don’t blow the crap out of us?”

“He’s feeling guilty and trying to fix things.”

Mal got on the radio. “Talking of which, Dev, how are we doing?”

“I need something like a length of fuel line or polymer tubing,” she said. “I can’t tie off what’s left. It’s too short. I might be able to clamp a new section in, though.”

“Are you tel ing me we’re stuck here?”

“Maybe.”

Mal didn’t say anything but dropped his head for a second or two. Vaz patted his back. “Hey, remember when we hijacked that Spirit on Imber?”

“You’re not suggesting we nick the Phantom, are you?”

“We could. We’d have to destroy Tart-Cart, though.”

“I heard that,” Devereaux said. “And the answer’s over my dead body. ”

“What about trashing the Phantom for parts? Hey, BB, you’re not translating al this, are you?”

BB sighed. “Vaz, have you got enough fingers to calculate my IQ? No. Oh, look … here comes Mrs. ‘Mdama. Is she smiling? It’s so hard to tel .”

Jul’s wife strode across to Forze and said something to him. Forze held out his arms, whatever that meant, and took a few steps closer to Tart- Cart.

“‘ Telcam says he understands but he also expects agreements to be honored.”