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She stepped toward the floating, tentacular aliens. “We believe these are their scientists.” As she movedcloser, the figure animated; the image showed the creature disassembling an electric car of humanmanufacture. John instantly recognized his own battlefield recording.
She pointed to the giant armored creatures. “This was recorded on Sigma Octanus Four. A heavilyarmored warrior superior to either Grunts or Jackals.” The massive aliens also sprang into motion,lumbering into combat, until Dr. Halsey froze the images in place.
She turned and strolled back to the podium. “ONI hypothesizes at least two additional castes. A warriorcapable of commanding ground forces and possibly piloting their ships, and a leadership caste. We havedeciphered a handful of Covenant transmissions that refer to—” She paused, checking notes on the datascreen in her glasses. “—Ah, yes. ‘Prophets.’ We believe that these Prophets are in fact the leadershipcaste, and that they are viewed by the Covenant rank and file with an almost religious reverence.”
Dr. Halsey removed her glasses. “This is where you come in. Your mission will involve these so-calledProphets, and will be executed in four phases.
“Phase one. You will engage the Covenant and sufficiently disable, but not destroy, one of their ships.”She turned to face Captain Keyes. “I leave that in the capable hands of Captain Keyes and his newlyrefitted ship, thePillar of Autumn .”
Captain Keyes acknowledged her compliment with a curt nod. He tapped the stem of his pipe on his lipsthoughtfully.
The Master Chief was unaware of any Covenant ship ever being captured. He had read the reports ofCaptain Keyes’ actions at Sigma Octanus IV . . . and considered the odds of actually capturing aCovenant vessel. Even for a Spartan, it would be a difficult mission.
“Phase two,” Dr. Halsey said. “Spartans will board the disabled Covenant ship—neutralize the crew, andcrack their navigation database. We will do precisely what they have been trying to do to us: find thelocation of their home world.”
The Master Chief raised his hand.
“Yes, Master Chief?”
“Ma’am. We will be given mission specialist personnel to access the Covenant computers?”
“In a manner of speaking,” she said, and looked away. “I will come to that point in a moment. Let meassure you, however, that these specialists will cause you no serious complications during this phase. Infact, they will prove rather useful in combat. Shortly, you shall have a demonstration.”
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Like Captain Keyes’ statement that winning wasn’t everything . . . Dr. Halsey’s reply was anotherpuzzle. How would such computer specialists not be a liability to the Spartans in combat? Even if theycould fight, it was unlikely they’d be anything but weak links in combat. If they couldn’t fight, theSpartans would be forced to baby-sit a vulnerable package in a hot combat zone.