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Some “win,” Keyes thought bitterly.
Cote d’Azur was now a smoldering crater—but Sigma Octanus IV was still a human-held world. Theyhad saved everyone else on the planet, nearly thirteen million souls. So perhaps it had been worth it.
So many lives and deaths had been measured in this battle. Had the balance of the odds tipped slightly
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against them—everything could have been lost. That was something he had never taught any of hisstudents at the Academy—how much victory depended on luck as well as skill.
Captain Keyes saw the last of the Marine dropships returning from the planet surface. They docked withtheLeviathan , and then the huge carrier turned and accelerated out of the system.
“Sensor sweep complete,” Lieutenant Dominique reported. “I think that was the last of the lifeboats wepicked up, sir.”
“Let’s make certain, Lieutenant,” Keyes replied. “One more pass through the system please. EnsignLovell, plot a course and take us around again.”
“Yes, sir,” Lovell wearily replied.
The bridge crew was exhausted, physically and emotionally. They had all pulled extended shifts as theysearched for survivors. Captain Keyes would rotate shifts after this next pass.
As he looked at this crew he noticed that something was different. Lieutenant Hikowa’s movementswere crisp and determined, as if everything she did now would decide their next battle; it made astartling contrast to her normally lethargic efficiency. Lieutenant Hall’s false exuberance had beenreplaced by genuine confidence. Dominique almost seemed happy—his hands lightly typing a report toFLEET- COM. Even Ensign Lovell, despite his exhaustion, stepped lively.
Maybe Admiral Stanforth was right. Maybe the fleet needed this win more than he had realized.
They had beaten the Covenant. Although not widely known, there had been only three smallengagements in which the UNSC fleet had decisively defeated the Covenant. And not since AdmiralCole had retaken Harvest colony had there been an engagement on this scale. A complete victory—aworld saved.
It would show everyone that winning was possible, that there was hope.
But, he mused, was there really? They won because they had gotten lucky—and had twice as many shipsas the Covenant. And, he suspected, they had beaten the Covenant because the Covenant’s real objectivehadn’t been to win.
Naval Intelligence officers had come aboard theIroquois immediately after the battle. Theycongratulated Captain Keyes on his performance . . . and then copied and purged every single bit of datathey had intercepted from the Covenant planetside transmission.
Of course, the ONI spooks left without offering any explanation.
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Keyes toyed with his pipe, replaying the battle in his mind. No. The Covenant had lost because theywere really after something else on Sigma Octanus IV—and the intercepted message was the key.
“Sir,” Lieutenant Dominique said. “Incoming orders from FLEETCOM.”