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The Military Police attendant appeared. “Corporal Harland? They’re ready for you now.” A set ofdouble doors opened on the far wall. Harland gave John another salute, and nodded.
As the Corporal got up and strode toward the doors, he passed an older man on his way out. He wore theuniform of a UNSC Naval officer, a Captain. John sized the man up quickly—polished shoulderinsignia, new material. The man was a newly ordained Captain.
John stood at attention and snapped a precision salute. “Officer on the deck,” John barked.
The Captain paused, and looked John up and down. There was a glint of amusement in his eyes as hereturned the salute. “As you were, Master Chief.”
John stood at ease. The Captain’s name—Keyes, J.—was embroidered on the dress-gray tunic. Johnrecognized the name immediately: Captain Keyes, the hero of Sigma Octanus.At least, he thought,one ofthe surviving heroes.
Keyes glanced at the Master Chief’s uniform. His eyes lingered on the Spartan insignia, and then on theMaster Chief’s serial-number tag just under the stripes of his rank emblem. A faint smile appeared onthe Captain’s face. “It’s good to see you again, Chief.”
“Sir?” The Master Chief had never met Captain Keyes. He had heard of his tactical brilliance at SigmaOctanus, but he had never met the man face-to-face.
“We met a very long time ago. Dr. Halsey and I—” He stopped. “Hell. I’m not allowed to talk about it.”
“Of course, sir. I understand.”
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The Military Police attendant appeared in the hallway. “Captain Keyes, you’re wanted topside byAdmiral Stanforth.”
The Captain nodded to the attendant. “In a moment,” he said. He stepped closer to the Master Chief andwhispered, “Be careful in there. The ONI brass are—” He searched for the right word. “—irritated bythe end results of our encounter with the Covenant at Sigma Octanus. I’d keep my head down in there.”He glanced back toward the debriefing-chamber doors.
“Irritated, sir?” John asked, genuinely puzzled. He would have thought the UNSC top brass would beelated by the victory, despite its cost. “But we won.”
Captain Keyes took a step back and cocked a quizzical eyebrow. “Didn’t Dr. Halsey ever teach you thatwinning isn’t everything, Master Chief?” He saluted. “You’ll excuse me.”
John saluted. He was so confused by Captain Keyes’ statement that he kept saluting as the Captainwalked out of the room.
Winningwas everything. How could someone with Captain Keyes’ reputation think otherwise?
The Master Chief tried to recall if he had ever read anything like that in any military history orphilosophy texts. What else was there other than winning? The only other obvious choice was losing . . .and he had long been taught that defeat was an unacceptable alternative. Certainly, Captain Keyes didn’tmean that they should havelost at Sigma Octanus?
Unthinkable.
He stood silently for ten minutes mulling this over. Finally the Military Police attendant entered thewaiting room. “They’re ready for you now, sir.”