She had been able to link up with a couple of other patrols, it seemed that there was still a substantial Covenant presence in the city. What’s more... after the High Prophet of Regret had withdrawn aboard the Solemn Penance, the High Prophet of Truth had dispatched a large fleet to reinforce them, engaging the Humans in orbit and deploying more troops to the ground. That, at least, was some good news. The Prophet of Truth was a friend to the Jiralhanae, and his fleet was crewed primarily by her. I started to cry. What could I do? I weighed my options and then realized that I had no choice. Then I really started to cry my eyes out. "No, don't start with the tears, Hannah. I've seen enough tears in my life. This'll be a nice time for you and me if you want to let it be and I'll never think the worse of you for it. And, besides, I know this won't be your first time since you're a big girl in a big city and I'm just sure some young buck has gotten there by now."He was right. Mark from the. " He gestured to hissoldiers. "Disarm them. They're not worth expending bullets over, but neitherwill I leave them armed and dangerous."Beefcake made a move for the ray gun, but a weapon chattered, a line ofbullets kicking up the dirt in front of him. "You're pushing your luck,vagabond," Gil said venomously. "Live, and you can still choose to helpEnlil. Die now, and you die a criminal's death."It was over in less than fifteen minutes. Gil's men found six slugthrowers, adozen knives and two. As the time drew near, I filled my small cooler with some beer and headed over to Rachel and Ben’s campsite. It was done up nicely. They had a wooden deck with a nice patio set, and some modest landscaping all around. We exchanged pleasantries again. Ben was working on some steaks on the grill as Rachel invited me to sit down before joining me at the table.I cracked open my first beer, raising it in the air to toast my hosts. It looked like the two of them had a good head start on me as far as.