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Before the Master Chief could speak his mind, Haverson said, "Admiral." He pointed at the forward screens and at the Chiroptera-class ship accelerating away from the Gettysburg's launch bay. "I thought Jiles was staying on board to oversee repairs."
"So did I," the Admiral said. "Cortana, did you catch Jiles leaving on surveillance?"
"No, sir, but you might be interested in this." On the screen a grainy video appeared of Locklear, Dr. Halsey, and a Spartan on a gurney boarding the ship. "Locklear left them at the ship, sir. Doctor Halsey and SPARTAN-087 departed."
"Cortana," the Admiral barked. "Hail that ship. Now."
"Hailing."
Governor Jiles appeared on forward screen number one. "Ad?miral," he said with a nervous smile. "I just saw my ship leave the launch bay. Perhaps you can explain why you commandeered
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my personal property when I have showed nothing but good faith in this—"
"Hold on to your shirttail, Governor," Admiral Whitcomb snapped. "I'm in the middle of finding out who took your ship and what precisely is going on. Cortana, any response to our hail?"
"An automated code, sir," she said. Her mouth opened in as?tonishment. "UNSC Code Three-Nine-Two."
"Three-Nine-Two?" the Admiral asked. He stared into space, trying to recall the obscure code.
The Master Chief cleared his throat and told him, "Admiral, that is an official 'nonresponse' code, sir. Special Warfare teams use it to ignore hails... due to a higher-priority mission."
"God damn it." The Admiral's face flushed, and he ground his teeth. "You mean the good doctor just told me to go to hell."
On the forward screen the Chiroptera, its batlike wings nearly invisible against the black of space, accelerated in a sudden burst. Pinpoints of light appeared around the craft that elongated and smeared. The ship vanished.
"A Slipspace transition," Cortana said.
"I thought you told me," the Admiral said, slowly turning on Haverson, "that that ship was locked down. That vital compo?nents were removed when it was decommissioned. That there was no way it could make a Slipspace jump?"
"Yes, sir, I did."
"And would you care to explain why that ship just disap?peared, Lieutenant?"
"Yes, Admiral. I was wrong," Haverson replied without meet?ing the Admiral's eyes. "Doctor Halsey apparently found a way to circumvent the ONI lockout on the ship's systems."
On screen, Jiles said, "This is most unfortunate, Admiral. I ex?pect to be compensated1—"
"You bet it's unfortunate," Admiral Whitcomb said. "If I'd known there was a chance we could have used that ship to jump to Earth... I would have done it an hour ago. Cortana, what was her trajectory?"
"Not Earth," Cortana said. "Doctor Halsey's course points to no known system in my database."
The Admiral scrutinized the forward screen: Jiles's face, the
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empty star field, and the frozen video of Dr. Halsey and Locklear in the launch bay. "I want Corporal Locklear on the bridge ten minutes ago. Lieutenant Haverson, have Cortana locate him. Then I want you personally to escort that ODST up here."