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John wrinkled his forehead as he thought it through. “I followed the chain of command,” he said. “TheSergeant told me to fight. I was threatened and in imminent danger. But they were still UNSC SpecialForces. Fellow soldiers.”
Mendez lowered his voice. “Not every mission has simple objectives or comes to a logical conclusion.Your priorities are to follow the orders in your chain of command, and then to preserve your life and the
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lives of your team. Is that clear?”
“Sir,” John said. “Yes, sir.” He glanced back at the ring. Blood was seeping into the canvas mat. Johnhad an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach.
He hit the showers and let the blood rinse off him. He felt strangely sorry for the men he had killed.
But he knew his duty—the Chief had even been unusually verbose in order to clarify the matter. Followorders and keep himself and his team safe. That’s all he had to focus on. John didn’t give the incident inthe gym another thought.
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CHAPTER EIGHT
0930 Hours, September 11, 2525 (Military Calendar) / Epsilon Eridani System, Reach UNSCMilitary Complex, planet Reach
Dr. Halsey reclined in Mendez’s padded chair. She considered pilfering one of the Sweet William cigarsfrom the box on his desk—see why he considered them such a treat. The stench wafting from the box,however, was too overwhelming. How did he stand them?
The door opened and CPO Mendez halted in the doorway. “Ma’am,” he said, and stood straighter. “Iwasn’t informed that you would be visiting today. In fact, I had understood that you were out of thesystem for another week. I would have made arrangements.”
“I’m sure you would have.” She folded her hands in her lap. “Our situation has changed. Where are mySpartans? They are not in their barracks, nor on any of the ranges.”
Mendez hesitated. “They can no longer train here, ma’am. We had to find them . . . other facilities.”
Dr. Halsey stood and smoothed the pleats in her gray skirt. “Maybe you should explain that statement,Chief.”
“I could,” he replied, “but it will be easier to show you.”
“Very well,” Dr. Halsey said, her curiosity piqued. Mendez escorted her to his personal Warthog parkedoutside his office. The all-terrain combat vehicle had been refitted; the heavy chain-gun on the back hadbeen removed and replaced with a rack of Argent V missiles.
Mendez drove them off the base and onto winding mountain roads. “Reach was first colonized for itsrich titanium deposits,” Mendez told her. “There are mines in these mountains thousands of meters deep.The UNSC uses them for storage.”
“I presume you do not have my Spartans taking inventory today, Chief?”
“No, ma’am. We just need the privacy.”
Mendez drove the Warthog past a manned guardhouse and into a large tunnel that sloped steeplyunderground.
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The road wound down in a spiral, deeper into sold granite. Mendez said, “Do you remember the Navy’sfirst experiments with powered exoskeletons?”