Kincaide used the third man, a rioter, as a shield. He shoved the surprised civilian into Watanabe, then shot them both several times with a plasma rifle. Keyes felt sick as he watched Watanabe
fall. The man may have been ONI, but he was crew and a fellow soldier, and Keyes realized he was screaming.
Watanabe groaned, and Keyes crawled over to him. The plasma rifle had ripped through the ONI agent's left torso, leaving a crisped mess. Keyes gagged at the smell. "This is bad," Watanabe muttered.
He winked again, a great big shit-eating grin spreading across his face. "Security clearance: Robot, passcode: Asimov." An Engineer chirped an explanation, calmly. Things seemed to be progressing as the human had promised. A sense of excitement, a murmur, spread though the assembled Covenant as they realized they were on the brink of a great military breakthrough.
But Mo Ye moaned as she realized what Baird was up to. “No . . . Baird . . . wait..." Baird did not wait. Baird turned around and looked up at the
Elite's puzzled face. He hauled back his right arm and with an open hand, slapped the Elite straight across the jaw with all the force his drug-fueled system could muster. The impact broke bones in his hand, and he felt a satisfying reciprocal crunch
from the Elite's jaw. The massive alien staggered, sagged, and fell to one knee, stunned by both impact and surprise.