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292
HALO: FIRST STRIKE
Fred emerged from inside, and Linda handed him an armful
of submachine guns.
The Master Chief detected a slight limp to her stride and an
almost imperceptible awkwardness to her usual fluid motions.
He opened a private COM channel to Linda. "What's your sta-
tus? Are you fit?"
She shrugged. This gesture was notoriously difficult to per-
form in MJOLNIR armor with its force-multiplying circuits. It
took a degree of concentration and dexterity that spoke volumes
about Linda's true coordination.
"Doctor Halsey would say I needed a month's bed rest," she
wryly replied. "But I'm squared away, Chief. I still have this."
She picked her sniper rifle off the dolly and slung it over her
shoulder with a liquid grace. "And I still have this." She patted
her helmet. "Even though the Covenant did their best to shoot it
off last time." She stepped closer to him. "I can take care of my-
self. And I can take care of the team's back. I've never let you
down, sir. I don't plan on doing so now."
He nodded.
What John wanted to do, however, was order her to stay be-
hind. But he'd need her uncanny skill with the sniper rifle on this
mission. He'd need her so they could survive just long enough to
stop the Covenant.
If he could have accomplished this mission alone, he would
have made everyone on Blue Team stay. His team, however,
knew the risks and knew the payoff for their sacrifice. It was as
good a final fate as any soldier could ask for.
He marched to the other hatch on the dropship and boarded
the craft. There was one last detail to take care of with Lieu-
tenant Haverson. John moved past Sergeant Johnson who, ob-
scured by a shower of sparks, welded the last supporting I-beam
in place.
The Lieutenant sat in the cockpit checking the automated rou-
tines that Cortana had uploaded into the system. These would
generate the proper coded responses to Covenant queries. They
had also changed the dropship's registry tag so the Covenant
would not recognize this ship as belonging to the now renegade
Ascendant Justice.
"Lieutenant," the Master Chief said. "Forgive the interruption."