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ERIC NYLUND
103
"No need," Ackerson muttered. He returned to his seat.
Strauss sighed. "At least we have your special weapons pro-
grams, Ackerson. Halsey's SPARTAN-IIs were such a great
sue—"
Ackerson shot the General a look that could have blasted
through battle plate.
The General halted midsentence and snapped his mouth
closed.
Wagner stood absolutely still and stared straight ahead, pre-
tending he hadn't seen such a gross breach of military protocol. A
General knuckling under to a junior officer? Something ex-
traordinary had just been revealed—there was some kind of
backup plan on a par with the SPARTAN program, and Acker-
son was behind it. The Colonel suddenly had a lot of juice.
Wagner continued to feign ignorance—and no matter what,
he didn't meet Colonel Ackerson's gaze. If Ackerson suspected
that he'd caught on, the bastard would have him erased to pre-
vent his secret from getting back to Section Three.
After what seemed a century of uncomfortable silence, Admi-
ral Hood cleared his throat. "The Pillar of Autumn, Lieutenant
Wagner. Was that ship destroyed? Or did she jump? There is no
mention in your report."
"She jumped, sir. Telemetry indicates the Autumn was pur-
sued by several enemy ships, however, so her fate can only be
speculated upon. I did not mention the Pillar of Autumn in my
report, as that ship is on Section Three's Secure List."
"Good." Hood closed his eyes. "Then there is, at least, some
hope."
Ackerson shook his head. "With all due respect to my prede-
cessor, Doctor Halsey, the special weapons package on the Pil-
lar hasn't got a chance in hell of accomplishing its mission. You
might as well have shot every one of them in the head and gotten it
over with."
"That will be enough, Ackerson," Hood said and glowered at
him. "Quite enough."
"Sir," Wagner ventured. "The Colonel may be correct. .. at
least in his mission assessment. Our agent on the Pillar of Au-
tumn signaled us before the end. He regrettably reported that a