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Annoyance crossed Dr. Halsey's features as she manipulated the map room and zoomed about the internal structure of the planet—layers of rooms, machines, cutaway blueprints, connecting rods and spherical joints, corridors and vast chambers— rapidly flit through space.
"There are a few things I must first check, Lieutenant Commander." Dr. Halsey tilted her glasses so the reflecting glare of the holographic images shielded her eyes.
"Will," Kurt said over the COM. "Guard her… and keep her on task."
The last thing he needed in a combat situation was Dr. Halsey going rogue and not following orders.
"Understood," Will replied.
"Kelly, Tom, defend the corridor," Kurt said. "The rest of you, topside with me."
Green acknowledgment lights burned on his heads-up display, and Kurt led the balance of his team back to the stairs.
Halfway up the spiral, Kurt contacted Dante. "I want explosives on that dome. Get up there ASAP."
Dante replied with a grunt over the COM. "Halfway up the rope already, sir."
It pleased Kurt to hear his SPARTAN-IIIs were two steps ahead of him.
He rounded the last curve of the stairs and stepped onto the landing pad.
Kurt motioned to the Spartans and then to the four ropes strung to the archways overhead. Ash, Olivia, and Lucy clambered up the braided monolines.
He then met Chief Mendez by the dropship.
"Everything's ready to go. sir," Mendez said, "except the FENRIS warheads. We'll need more time to cut the rest of them down for transport." He nodded over the edge. "Rigged six zip lines over there, just in case we needed a quick way down."
"Good thinking. Chief."
Kurt removed the thumb-sized datapad for his gauntlet, and banded it to Mendez. "Prime the warhead detonators and synchronize firing codes through this pad. With Sentinels and Covenant inbound, I want all my options open."
Mendez's face became a mask of steel. "Yes, sir. After that where do you want me?"
Mendez was a crack shot, but he was unarmored and slower than the others. Keeping him close would risk everyone's lives.
"I need you with Dr. Halsey, Chief. Follow the lights. Let Kelly know you're coming. She's dug in."
To his credit the Chief didn't show any disappointment—just a moment's hesitation before he replied, "Yes, sir."
Kurt grabbed an ascension line and pulled himself up, rapidly climbing to an archway twenty meters above the landing pad.
Linda lent him a hand and helped him onto the ledge. She eased back into her position on the far side of the arch, lay flat, and sighted through her sniper scope.
Kurt crouched on the opposite side and scanned the city. Under any other circumstance the nighttime vista of alien architecture and the shifting Sentinel Hghts would have filled him with awe. Now, though, he was only concerned with surviving.
The airspace was clear.
Not wanting to risk using even the single beam, Kurt waved at Fred on the adjacent arch and made a horizontal circle gesture in the air, asking. Where are they?