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48
HALO: FIRST STRIKE
likely." She paused for two heartbeats, and then added, "Accord-
ing to the readings from the Sergeant's biomonitors, his story
checks out. I can't be one hundred percent positive until he's
been cleared in a medical suite, but preliminary findings indi-
cate that he is clean of any Flood parasitic infection. He's obvi-
ously not a mindless, half-naked alien killing machine."
"All right." The Chief clicked the pistol's safety to "on" then
flipped the pistol around and handed it back to the Sergeant, grip
first. "But I'm having you checked inside and out the first chance
we get. We can't risk letting the Flood infection spread."
"I hear you, Master Chief. Looking forward to those Navy
nurses. Now—" The Sergeant pushed off the hull and drifted
toward the hatch. "—let's get the rest of the crew on board." He
hesitated by the cryotubes. "I see you already picked up a few
stragglers."
"They'll have to wait," the Chief said. "It'll take half an hour
to thaw them out without risking hypothermic shock. We don't
have that much time left before we reengage the Covenant."
"Reengage," the Sergeant said, savoring the word. He smiled.
"Good. For a second I thought we were running away from a per-
fectly good fight." The Sergeant opened the hatch to the Pelican.
The barrel of an MA5B assault rifle extended through the
opening. The Sergeant reached down and pulled it up.
A Marine Corporal drifted though the hatch. The name
stitched on his uniform read LOCKLEAR. He was tanned, shaved
bald, and had a wild look in his clear blue eyes. He retrieved his
gun from the Sergeant and swept the interior with the point of his
weapon. "Clear!" he shouted back down into the Pelican.
"At ease, Corporal," the Master Chief said.
The Corporal's eyes finally locked onto the Chief. He shook
his head in disbelief. "A Spartan," he muttered. "Figures. Outta
the friggin' frying pan—"
The Master Chief spotted the Marine's shoulder patch: the
gold comet insigne of the Orbital Drop Shock Troops. The
ODST, more colorfully known as "Helljumpers," were notorious
for their tenacity in a fight.
Locklear must have been one of Major Silva's boys, which ex-
plained the young Marine's general hostility. Silva was ODST to