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ERIC NYLUND
101
banged a fist onto the table. "Why the hell didn't we know about
this? Who in ONI let this one slip by?"
Ackerson leaned back. "No one is to blame, General—except
the Covenant, obviously. I'm more concerned with our response
to this incursion. Our fleet was decimated."
Ackerson's reputation preceded him. Wagner had heard about
the lengths to which he'd gone in the past to make sure his own
operations got priority over Section Three's. His rivalry with the
SPARTAN-II program leader, Dr. Catherine Halsey, was the
stuff of legend. Wagner thought Ackerson had been reassigned
to a front-line post. Apparently he'd squirmed out of it. That was
trouble.
Admiral Hood straightened and pushed his display away and
finally acknowledged Wagner. He returned the salute. The Ad-
miral was impeccably groomed, not a silver hair out of place on
his head, and yet there were dark circles under his eyes. "At ease,
Lieutenant."
Wagner tucked his hands behind the small of his back and
moved his feet slightly apart, but otherwise didn't relax a mil-
limeter. One was never at ease when in the presence of lions,
sharks, and scorpions.
Hood turned to Ackerson. "Decimate is the wrong word,
Colonel. We would have been decimated if we lost one ship out
of every ten." He voice rose slightly. "Instead, we lost ten of our
ships for every one that managed to limp away. It was a total
disaster!"
"Of course, Admiral." Ackerson nodded, pretending to listen,
and his eyes flickered over the report again. His eyebrows raised
as he noticed the time and date stamp. "There's one thing, how-
ever, I'd like answered first." His glassy glare locked onto Wag-
ner. "The time difference between the events in this report and
now..." He trailed off, lost in thought. "Congratulations, Lieu-
tenant. This is a new speed record from Reach to Earth. Espe-
cially when I know you took the time to perform the legally
required random jumps before returning to Earth."
"Sir," Wagner replied. "I followed the Cole Protocol to the
letter."
That was a lie and everyone in this room knew it. ONI was al-
ways bending the Cole Protocol. In this case, it was probably