Broken Circle Read Online Free

GuJo’n, “is that the Sangheili object to surrender of any sort—that it is counter to their ethos to ally themselves with their conquerors. They object to subjugation . . . but they can adapt to it, in time.”
    â€œAnd you truly believe this? I have documentation suggesting that the leader of these heretics, this Ussa ‘Xellus, does not just object to the Writ of Union. He acts !”
    Mken remembered the Planet of Blue and Red from several solar cycles earlier, when he had been a mere High Lord. Ussa ‘Xellus had escaped the planet and gone on to fight, with characteristic craftiness, in many ensuing battles against the San’Shyuum, on other worlds.
    His voice almost a growl, Qurlom went on. “This Ussa ‘Xellus declares, and I quote . . .” He touched the arm of his chair, summoning a holoscreen that flickered into definition in the air over the table, and read out the text unscrolling there. “ ‘This Great Journey—what is it? Just another surrender, from what I can tell! Did the Forerunners truly summon us to sublimation, in the shadow of these Rings? Or is that an excuse on the part of the San’Shyuum to exterminate us? It is a murky pond in which no Sangheili would dare bathe!’ ”
    â€œVery inflammatory indeed,” GuJo’n allowed. “Who provided this quote? Perhaps some profiteer?”
    â€œAgain you rebuke me, GuJo’n,” Qurlom snapped. “You imply my information is fallacious.”
    â€œI am merely curious as to intelligence sources.”
    â€œAnd I would like to know as well, Qurlom,” Mken put in gently.
    â€œMy intelligence source is the Sangheili themselves,” Qurlom replied. “Those who committed to the Writ of Union have no notion of being made fools of—they are quietly providing surveillance of all dissenters for us.”
    Mken gave a hand sign of approval. “You’ve been thorough, Qurlom—I am happy to see it.”
    â€œSo then, Prophet of Inner Conviction”—Qurlom gave Mken’s spiritual title a fillip of irony—“what shall we do about it?”
    â€œIdeally, it should be something taken care of by the Sangheili,” said GuJo’n.
    â€œYes,” Mken agreed. “Then let us have the Commission here . . . and I see they have just arrived. We will bring this up with them.”

    By the time the Commission arrived, the keyship had turned in space, the enormous, towering Dreadnought structure ever so slowly rotating as it coursed its orbit. And now as the Sangheili filed in, Mken could see the skeleton of new construction through the viewing wall. Destined to become a kind of shell around the former Dreadnought, the mobile capital city dubbed High Charity was being manufactured by robotic and Covenant workers, all toiling on the rocky base, long ago ripped from the homeworld of Janjur Qom. A force field kept in the atmosphere needed by the workers, and held the void and detritus of space at bay. It was already a habitat. Someday it would be far more.
    In time, High Charity itself would become an interstellar vessel, as well as the new, traveling center of San’Shyuum power. Thus far High Charity was only a living sketch of its potential, the semiglobular shape catching the starlight as the city gradually accreted. Fairly soon, the former Dreadnought would complete its decommissioning as a weapon and fulfill the terms of the Writ of Union; it would be set upon an anointed altar in High Charity, permanently attached. It had once been the most dreaded weapon in the known galaxy—now it was a symbol of disarmament, at least among the members of the Covenant.
    And yet the Covenant still had teeth.
    Mken looked over the visiting Commission. They consisted of two Sangheili, Commanders Viyo ‘Griot and Loro ‘Onkiyo. Behind them were two Honor Guards—the San’Shyuum referred to the