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- CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
- 1930 hours, September 12,2552 (revised date, Military
- Calendar)\Captured Covenant flagship Ascendant Justice, in
- Slipspace en route to Eridanus system.
- Black space churned with pinpricks of light; it split, and the
- Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice appeared in the Eridanus system.
- The Master Chief stood on the Gettysburg's bridge. He'd
- wanted to be on the medical deck when Dr. Halsey had finished
- with Linda, be there when she woke up ... or be there in case
- she never woke up. But he had to be here; this was his idea, and
- he was the closest thing they had to an expert on this place.
- "Systems check," Admiral Whitcomb ordered.
- Lieutenant Haverson leaned over the ops console and flicked
- through several screens. "Residual radiation fading," he said.
- "Navigation systems and scanners coming back online."
- Fred stood at the Engineering station and reported, "Reactors
- at sixty percent. Slight hysteresis leak in coil ten. Compensating."
- "Plasma?" the Admiral asked as he settled into the Captain's
- chair.
- Cortana's ghostly image flickered onto the holographic pad
- next to the star chart.
- "We can fire only one turret," she replied, and a wash of red
- flashed across her image then cooled to its normal deep blue.
- "The other two functional turrets are offline; their magnetic
- coils refuse to align. It might be a side effect of the artifact's
- radiation."
- "One shot..." the Admiral muttered. He tugged on the end
- of his mustache and sighed. "Then we'll just have to make it
- count." He turned to the Master Chief. "Lead the way, son." 251
- The Master Chief stared at the three large monitors that had
- replaced the bridge's observation windows. Eridanus blazed in
- the center of one display; stars shone with a steady brilliance.
- "Move us one-point-five astronomical units relative to the sun,"
- he said. "Heading zero-nine-zero by zero-four-five."
- "Destination one-point-five AU," Haverson said. "Heading
- confirmed. Coming about."
- "Plot an elliptical course parallel to the plane of the asteroid
- belt," the Master Chief added. "Cortana, scan for asteroids ap-
- proximately two kilometers in diameter."
- "Scanning," she said. "This might take some time. There are
- more than a billion moving objects, some of them in deep
- shadow."
- "Tell me again about your old mission," Admiral Whitcomb
- said. "You and the other Spartans were here before?"
- "Yes, sir," the Chief replied. "Myself, Fred, Linda, Kelly, and
- Sam. It was the Spartans' first real mission: an infiltration into a
- rebel base. We captured their leader and got him to ONI for
- debriefing."
- "I didn't even know the Spartans were around in 2525," Lieu-
- tenant Haverson said.
- "Yes, sir," Fred answered. "We just didn't have MJOLNIR ar-
- mor or the advanced weaponry we have today. We looked like
- any other NavSpecWar team."
- "I very much doubt that," Haverson said under his breath.
- The Admiral raised one bushy eyebrow. "You mean five peo-
- ple made a zero-gee vacuum infiltration onto this space station?
- And then exfiltrated with a prisoner who happened to be the guy
- in charge of the place?"
- "Yes, sir. That was the basic plan."
- "I suppose it went off without a hitch?"
- The Master Chief was silent for a moment as he remembered
- the dozens of dead people they had left behind on that base ...
- and he felt a pang of regret. At the time he hadn't thought twice
- about removing any obstacle that would have compromised his
- mission, human or otherwise. Now, after fighting for humanity
- for two decades, he wondered if he could shoot another human
- without a good reason. 252
- "No, sir," the Master Chief finally replied. "There were enemy
- casualties. And we had to blow their cargo bay to escape."
- "So," the Admiral said, tapping his fingers on the arm of the
- Captain's chair, "they're not going to be happy to see a UNSC
- ship knocking on their front door?"
- "I wouldn't expect so, sir."
- "Faint emissions on the D-band detected," Cortana said.
- "Come about to new heading three-three-zero."
- "Aye," Haverson said. "Three-three-zero."
- "It's gone, now," she said, "but I definitely heard something"
- "Keep on this course," Admiral Whitcomb ordered. "We'll
- run it down."
- "There's one thing I don't understand," Haverson said as he
- squinted at the forward displays. "Why are these people even
- here?"
- "Pirates and insurgents," the Admiral answered. "They hijack
- UNSC ships, sell arms, and trade black market commodities.
- You're probably too young to remember, Lieutenant, but before
- the Covenant War not everyone wanted to be part of an
- Earth-ruled government."
- "Rebels?" Haverson said. "I've read about them. But why con-
- tinue to stay separated from UNSC forces when the Covenant
- War started? Surely their chances of survival would be better
- with us?"
- The Admiral snorted a derisive laugh. "Some people didn't
- want to fight, son. Some just wanted to hide... in this case, liter-
- ally under a rock. Maybe they think the Covenant won't bother
- with 'em." A smile flickered across his face. "Well, we're about
- to change all that for them."
- The elevator doors parted, and Dr. Halsey stepped onto the
- bridge. She removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes. She
- looked to the Master Chief as if she had just retimed from an in-
- tense fight—fatigued and shocked. He noticed a single drop of
- blood on the lapel of her wrinkled white lab coat.
- "She's fine," Dr. Halsey whispered. "Linda will make it. The
- flash-cloned organs took."
- The Master Chief exhaled the breath he had been uncon-
- sciously holding. He glanced over to Fred, who nodded to him.
- John nodded back. There were no words to express how he felt. 253
- One of his closest teammates, his friend, someone he had
- thought dead... was alive again.
- "Thank you, Doctor Halsey," he said.
- She waved her hand dismissively, and there was a strange look
- in her eyes—almost as if she had regretted the success of her
- operation.
- "Damn good news," Admiral Whitcomb said. "We could use
- another hand on deck."
- "Hardly," Dr. Halsey replied, suddenly looking much more
- alert. "She'll need at least a week to recover—even with the
- bio-foam and steroid accelerants I have her on. Then she'll barely
- be able to get on her feet. She won't be combat-ready."
- Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice moved into the plane of the as-
- teroid belt, and three rocks appeared on the screens.
- "This region is the source of the D-band signal," Cortana told
- them. "There are three possible candidates based on the size pa-
- rameters you gave me, Chief."
- "Which one is it?" the Admiral asked.
- "Only one is rotating fast enough to generate a
- three-quarter-gravity internal environment," Cortana replied.
- "That's it," the Master Chief replied and nodded toward the
- central display. The rock hadn't changed much in the last twenty
- years. Was it possible the place had been abandoned? The D-band
- transmission that Cortana detected could have been an automated
- signal, weak from years of drain on a single battery ... or the
- lure for a trap.
- "Admiral?"
- "I know, Chief," he said. "They've baited the hook and we're
- taking it... at least that's what it's supposed to look like." He
- chuckled. "Cortana, power up every turret on our Covenant
- flagship."
- Her holographic body flushed blue-green and she crossed her
- arms. "Let me remind you, sir, that of the three working turrets,
- two are offline. I have no way to aim the plasma. The magnetic—"
- "I know, Cortana. But they"—the Admiral stabbed a finger at
- the displays—"don't know that."
- "Yes, sir," she said. "Heating them up now."
- "Power dropping," Fred warned the Admiral as he peered at
- the Engineering screens. "Down to forty-four percent." 254
- "Lieutenant Haverson," the Admiral barked, "open a channel
- on the D-band. It's time we introduced ourselves."
- "Aye, sir. Frequency matched and channel open."
- The Admiral stood. "This is the UNSC frigate Gettysburg" he
- barked, his voice full of authority and colored with his Texas ac-
- cent. "Respond." And then he reluctantly added, "Please."
- Static filled the COM. The Admiral waited patiently for ten
- seconds, and then his boot started to tap on the deck. "No need to
- play possum, boys. We're not here for a fight. We want to—"
- He made a sudden throat-slitting motion toward Haverson,
- and the Lieutenant snapped off the COM.
- Tiny doors appeared in the two-kilometer-wide rock; from
- this distance they looked no larger than the pores on an orange. A
- fleet of ships launched, using the asteroid's rotational motion to
- give their velocities a boost. There were approximately fifty
- craft: Pelicans modified with extra armor and chainguns mounted
- on their hulls; sleek civilian pleasure craft carrying missiles as
- large as themselves; single-man engineering pods that sputtered
- with arc cutters; and one ship that was fifty meters long with
- oddly angled black stealth surfaces.
- "That's a Chiroptera-class vessel," Haverson said, awed. "It's
- an antique. ONI decommissioned them all forty years ago and
- sold them for scrap."
- "Is it a threat?" the Admiral asked.
- Lieutenant Haverson's forehead wrinkled as he considered.
- "No, sir. They were decommissioned because they broke down
- every other mission. They had far too many sensitive components
- without a central controlling AI. The only reason I recall them at
- all is that they had the smallest operational Shaw-Fujikawa
- Translight Engine ever produced. No weapons systems, sir. Like
- I said, it's not a threat... it's a museum piece."
- "But it has Slipspace capability?" Dr. Halsey asked. "Maybe
- we can use it to get to Earth."
- "Unlikely," Haverson replied. "All Chiroptera-class vessels
- were decommissioned by ONI—critical components removed
- and the ships' operating systems locked down so tight I doubt
- even Cortana could reactivate them."
- "I wouldn't bet on it," Cortana muttered. 255
- "No weapons," the Admiral said and stared at the blocky ge-
- ometry of the black ship. "That's all I need to know."
- "Their 'fleet,' " Fred interjected, "is deploying and taking up
- positions around us in a wide arc. Classic formation. They'll
- flank us."
- "There's no real threat from these ships," the Admiral said to
- himself. "They have to know we know that. So why bother with
- this show?" He scowled at the displays, and his eyes widened.
- "Cortana, scan the nearby rocks for radioactive emissions."
- "Receiving video feed," Fred announced.
- The image of a man flickered on forward screen three. He was
- clearly a civilian, with long black hair drawn back into a ponytail
- and a pointed beard extending a full ten centimeters from his
- chin. He smiled and made an elegant bow. The Chief, for some
- reason he could not understand, took an instant dislike to him.
- "Captain...," the man said in a smooth, resonant tenor voice.
- "I am Governor Jacob Jiles, leader of this port. What can we do
- for you?"
- "First," Admiral Whitcomb said, "I am not a Captain; I am a
- Vice Admiral, the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations. Second,
- you will order your fleet to reverse course and get out of my
- gun-sights before I forget my manners. And third, we insist that
- you make ready to let us dock on that rock of yours for
- emergency repairs and refit."
- Jiles considered these requests and then threw his head back
- and laughed. "Admiral, my sincere apologies for the confusion
- in your rank." He said this with a mocking grin. "As for your
- other requests, I'm afraid I can't accommodate you today."
- "And I respectfully suggest you reconsider, Mister Jiles," the
- Admiral said in a deadpan tone. "It would be unfortunate for all
- of us if I have to insist."
- "You're in no position to insist on anything." Jiles nodded to
- someone offscreen.
- "Emissions detected!" Cortana said. "Neutron radiation spikes
- at seven by three o'clock. One by three o'clock. Picking up five
- more. They've got nukes."
- "Hidden in the asteroid field," Admiral Whitcomb muttered.
- "Very good. At least we're not dealing with fools."
- "Indeed. We are not fools," Jiles replied. "We have survived 256
- the long arm of Imperial Earth and Covenant intrusions." Some-
- one off camera handed Jiles a data pad with a radar silhouette of
- Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice; numbers and symbols crawled
- alongside the picture. He hesitated and crinkled his nose, ap-
- pearing confused at the odd configuration of mated craft. "We
- are also not foolish enough to use overwhelming force when it
- isn't required. Your 'ship' is ready to fall apart on its own. I
- hardly think we need to waste one of our precious and expensive
- nuclear devices to stop you."
- Whitcomb set his hands on his hips. "You need to rethink the
- tactical situation, Governor," he growled. "Cortana, find me a
- target—a rock the same size as this 'gentleman's' base."
- "Done," she replied.
- "Burn it," he ordered.
- "Aye, sir!"
- A lance of plasma appeared on the starboard side of Ascen-
- dant Justice, cut through space, and blasted the surface of a
- three-kilometer-long stone tumbling through the asteroid belt.
- Its surface heated to orange, yellow, and then white, sputtering
- blobs of molten iron and jets of vapor that caused the massive
- stone to spin faster. The plasma cut through the rock in a wide
- arc—punched through the opposite side. The uneven internal
- heat caused the rock to fracture and explode into fragments. The
- debris pinwheeled away, leaving helical trails of cooling iron
- and glittering metallic gas in its wake.
- "Keep number two and three turrets hot," the Admiral said,
- "and target their base."
- "Done, sir."
- The mocking smile had vanished from Jiles's face and the
- color had drained from his golden skin. "Perhaps I was too
- hasty," he said. "Where are my manners? Please come aboard
- and join me as my honored guest. Bring your staff, too." He
- made a quick motion to his crew off camera.
- The ships surrounding the Gettysburg turned and maneu-
- vered back toward the rotating asteroid.
- "Join me for dinner and we can discuss what you need. You
- have my word that no one will be harmed."
- Admiral Whitcomb chuckled. "I have no doubt about that, 257
- Mister Jiles." He turned to Cortana. "If we're not back in thirty
- minutes, blast them all to hell."
- The Master Chief linked mission telemetry with Cortana as
- Jiles's men met them in the landing bay—six men dressed in
- black coveralls with old MA3 rifles slung over their shoulders.
- They hesitated, then took tentative steps toward the Covenant
- dropship. The Chief didn't blame them—he'd have been careful,
- too, if he were moving toward an armed enemy vessel. One
- fear-induced pull of the trigger from any one of them, however,
- and this greeting would turn into a bloody firefight.
- He closed off his external speakers and asked, "Cortana: tacti-
- cal analysis."
- Cortana replied: "The asteroid is a typical ferric oxide
- composite. It's reinforced with a layer of Titanium-A armor. The
- armor is well camouflaged, but I spotted it with the Gettysburg's
- deep radar. They have a few sections with ablative undercoats as
- well. Radar's bouncing off those sections—so would Covenant
- sensors. Impressive."
- Governor Jiles strolled across the deck, flipped his black fur
- cap over one shoulder, and shook Admiral Whitcomb's hand.
- Jiles nodded to Haverson. His smile vanished, however, when he
- looked at the Master Chief and Fred in their MJOLNIR armor.
- Jiles recovered his grin and bowed low to Dr. Halsey.
- "There are half a dozen guards armed with old MA-3 rifles
- and concealed plasma pistols," Cortana whispered. "I'm also
- picking up a fireteam often in the side passages, watching."
- "I saw them," the Chief muttered. "They're overwatch and
- backup, just in case. No problem."
- "This way, please," Jiles said, and with a flourish he led them
- through a narrow corridor.
- The Chief took one last look at the docking bay. It seemed
- smaller than he remembered it. Twenty years ago he and his
- team had blown off the external doors, stolen a Pelican, escaped,
- and left a dozen men dead on the deck.
- His team had accomplished that mission without MJOLNIR
- armor. It hadn't been developed yet—so there was no way any-
- one here could have known that John and Fred were part of
- the team that had extracted the last "governor" of the base, the 258
- traitor Colonel Watts. Yet Jiles's guards glared at John as if they
- knew everything.
- As the Master Chief stepped into the corridor, Cortana in-
- formed him: "This passage is from a UNSC cargo vessel, ripped
- out and reinforced with a bulkhead every ten meters. Airtight
- and tough. This place can take a lot of damage before buckling."
- "Good place for an ambush, too," the Master Chief said, and
- kept one eye on his motion tracker.
- They were being followed. Three contacts behind them, and
- three ahead, keeping pace.
- The Master Chief had an urge to step in front of the Admiral
- and Dr. Halsey and clear the passage with a burst of fire. But this
- situation required diplomacy, something John was ill suited for.
- He wished the Admiral had taken John's suggestion to bring
- more Spartans with him. Or at least to have two of them infiltrate
- while the Admiral and this Jiles spoke.
- They were led to a circular room. Half the far wall retracted,
- revealing thick red velvet curtains, which also slowly pulled
- away and exposed the half-meter-thick windows that overlooked
- the asteroid field. Beyond was a gentle ballet of rocks tumbling,
- rotating, and bouncing off one another in slow motion.
- Men carried in a long table, threw a white silk cloth over it,
- and smoothed it down. Then a succession of women carried in
- silver trays heavy with fruit, steaming meats, and chocolates,
- and a dozen decanters sloshing with amber, ruby, and clear
- liquors.
- Padded chairs were brought in for them all. "Please." Jiles
- motioned toward Dr. Halsey and he pulled out a chair for her.
- "Relax and sit down."
- The Master Chief took up a position by the door where he had
- a clear view of the entire room. Fred made sure the corridor was
- empty and then sealed the door.
- The Chief checked behind the curtains for hidden men, sur-
- veillance devices, or false passages.
- "Cortana?" he whispered.
- "Looks clear," she said. "I'm not detecting anything. Walls
- are half a meter of Titanium-A."
- "We're clear," the Master Chief told the Admiral.
- Dr. Halsey finally sat in the proffered chair, smoothed her 259
- skirt, and Jiles gently slid the chair under her. He offered her a
- plate of plump strawberries, which she graciously declined.
- Haverson took one of the strawberries, however, and bit into it.
- "Delicious," he remarked.
- Jiles inclined his head. "Our hydroponics facility—"
- "With respect, Governor, there's no time for chitchat," Admiral
- Whitcomb said. "The clock's ticking. In more ways than you
- might realize."
- Jiles sighed and sat in a chair covered in gold leaf and black
- velvet. He threw his legs over one of the chair's arms and laced
- his hands behind his head. "You have my complete and full at-
- tention, Admiral."
- "Good," Whitcomb said, frowning at Jiles's disregard for the
- seriousness of their predicament.
- Admiral Whitcomb laid it out for him in short,
- easy-to-understand sentences: the fall of Reach, the Covenant's
- search for an alien technology, the chase and battle in Slipspace,
- and the unclassifiable radiation that would lead the Covenant
- through Slipspace... to here.
- As he spoke, Governor Jiles set his feet onto the floor, and his
- relaxed position solidified. He leaned forward and set his elbows
- on the table. His congenial smile slowly tightened into a scowl.
- "Bloody Elisa!" he shouted, jumped to his feet, and swept a
- decanter off the table. The glass shattered and ruby-colored brandy
- spattered across the hardwood.
- John and Fred had Jiles instantly in their gunsights, but the
- Admiral held up his hand.
- " 'Bloody Elisa'?" the Chief asked Cortana.
- "The patron saint of vacuum," the AI replied. "She's popular
- among civilian pilots."
- "I'd guess," the Admiral told Jiles, "that we have less than a
- day before they find us."
- "And what," Jiles said slowly, controlling his anger, "do you
- suggest / do about it?"
- "That's the simple part of all this, Governor. You can help us, or
- you can try to kill me and my crew, and sell our ships for whatever
- the black market will bear. They should yield quite a profit...
- provided the Covenant let you live long enough to cash in."
- The Admiral grabbed a decanter, poured a glass of wine, took 260
- a sip, and nodded appreciatively. "Now, assuming you manage
- to outwit our ship's AI—which I very much doubt—and assum-
- ing further you somehow disable our ship's weapons before our
- AI blows your base to atoms—which I also doubt—then you'll
- have a Covenant fleet to contend with. And I don't think they're
- going to be sociable, sit down, drink your wine, and discuss this
- like gentlemen."
- Jiles placed his face into his hand and rubbed his temples.
- "Maybe you're thinking," the Admiral said, "that you've kept
- this operation of yours hidden this long. From the UNSC. From
- the Covenant. Why should this be any different? Well, we found
- you easily enough. I don't think the Covenant will blink at over-
- turning every rock in this asteroid belt to find you."
- Governor Jiles picked up a new bottle and filled a glass to the
- brim. He downed the drink in one gulp. "And the other option?"
- he asked coldly. "I help you? And together we fight the Cove-
- nant? If they come in the force you claim, what difference will it
- make?"
- "If you help us," the Admiral said, "get my ship repaired so we
- can make the jump to Earth, I'll evacuate all your people. I
- promise you and your crew amnesty."
- Jiles laughed. His cordial smile returned, and he asked, "Do
- you have any proof of any of this? That the mighty Reach is
- gone? That you have a new alien technology? Or that the Cove-
- nant are on their way here?"
- "Chief!" Cortana cried in alarm. On his helmet's heads-up
- display, a schematic of the Eridanus system appeared. A NAV
- marker flashed near the third planet. It expanded into the familiar
- curved radar silhouette of a Covenant cruiser.
- "We have company," the Master Chief said. He strode to the
- window and pointed. "There."
- The blue glow of Covenant engines flared as the ship came
- about and accelerated toward the asteroid belt.
- "There's your proof, Governor," Admiral Whitcomb growled. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
- 2000 hours, September 12,2552 (revised date, Military
- Calendar)\Aboard hybrid vessel Gettysburg-Ascendant
- Justice, station-keeping in Eridanus system.
- Admiral Whitcomb, the Master Chief, Fred, and Lieutenant
- Haverson bounded off the elevator and onto the bridge of the
- Gettysburg.
- Cortana's image nickered on the holographic pad near the star
- map. "Covenant cruiser is only two hundred thousand kilome-
- ters away," she reported. "Closing fast on an intercept course."
- The Admiral barked orders: "Fred, take the Engineering sta-
- tion, Haverson on NAV, and Chief, you're on Weapons Station
- One; get it up and running and see if there are any systems we
- overlooked. Lieutenant, move us away from the enemy on
- course one-eight-zero by two-seven-zero."
- "One-eight-zero by two-seven-zero, aye," Haverson replied.
- He strapped himself into the NAV station, and his fingers danced
- over the controls. "Coming about, Admiral."
- Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice turned and moved deeper into
- the asteroid field.
- The Master Chief stepped up to Weapons Station One. He was
- cross-trained on the weapons ops system of every class of UNSC
- warship, but he'd never actually fired any shipborne weapon be-
- fore. The MAC gun on this frigate was one of the largest weapons
- in the human arsenal. He wished they had rounds for it—he
- would've given anything to launch one of the six-hundred-ton de-
- pleted uranium projectiles at that Covenant cruiser. He carefully
- tapped commands on the keyboard, and the darkened screen 262
- came to life. The Chief scrutinized the Gettysburg's weapons
- inventory.
- Governor Jiles appeared on the number three forward display,
- his face placid except his lips, which pressed together so tightly
- that they were only a thin white line of concentration.
- "Governor," the Admiral said. His voice was smooth and reso-
- nated with the absolute authority of command. "I'll maneuver
- the Gettysburg and take a shot at extreme range with our plasma
- turret. That will blow down that cruiser's shields. I want you to
- coordinate with our AI and fire one of your nukes while their
- shields are down—blast them to bits."
- "A brilliant tactic," Jiles said, and his lips parted in a mocking
- smile. "Except for one problem. We have no nuclear weapons.
- The ones you detected in the asteroid field were only neutron ra-
- diation emitters." He shrugged. "We bluffed."
- Admiral Whitcomb cursed quietly. "Very smart, Jiles."
- "You'll just have to use the seven plasma turrets on your ship,
- Admiral," Governor Jiles remarked. "That should be more than
- enough to—"
- The Admiral chuckled, and he smiled in the same mocking
- fashion as Jiles. "We bluffed, too. We only have one turret...
- and it's not working so well."
- "It appears we have both overestimated the other," Jiles said.
- "Under different circumstances this might be amusing."
- "Indeed." Whitcomb addressed Cortana. "Try and hail that
- Covenant cruiser. Maybe we can bluff them, too."
- "They're responding," Cortana replied. "Religious rhetoric
- aside, they're demanding that we stand down and hand over the
- artifact or they will open fire."
- "Give them our answer," Admiral Whitcomb said. "Fire when
- ready, Cortana."
- The turret on Ascendant Justice warmed, and plasma col-
- lected and focused into a thin ruby line that lanced forward—
- —and unraveled into a wide spiral that coursed over the bow
- of the Gettysburg. The superheated gases boiled away patches
- of remaining Titanium-A armor and revealed the ship's skeletal
- superstructure.
- "What the hell happened?" the Admiral shouted. 263
- "Analyzing now," Cortana replied. "Plasma turret offline. Stand
- by, sir."
- "I can move my fleet to engage the enemy," Jiles said
- uncertainly.
- Admiral Whitcomb surveyed the forward screens: Jiles, the
- approaching Covenant cruiser, and the asteroid field full of
- rocks floating on invisible currents. He narrowed his eyes, then
- said: "They'd blast you out of space before you could sneeze,
- Governor. And you don't have a weapon that'll get through their
- shields. No—I'll draw them off. Evac your people."
- "Understood, Admiral." One of Jiles's eyebrows gracefully
- arched, and he bowed. "Thank you."
- "Fred, move us at best speed. Haverson, come to course
- zero-nine-zero. Get us closer to that moon-sized chuck of stone,
- twenty thousand kilometers to port."
- "Flank speed," Fred said. "Aye, sir."
- "Course change, aye," Haverson replied.
- The Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice glided toward the large
- rock, and the Covenant cruiser rapidly closed on them. The
- enemy ship vanished on the displays as they rounded to the dark
- side of the asteroid.
- "New course. Come about to one-eight-zero," the Admiral or-
- dered. "Full emergency power to the engines and answer all
- stop."
- Thrasters spun the ship around, and vibrations rumbled through
- the weakened hull as it slowed and came to a stop, hidden behind
- the rock.
- "Answering all stop," Fred announced.
- "Sir, we are dead in space," Lieutenant Haverson said and
- nervously ran his fingers through his slicked-back red hair. "Tra-
- ditional tactics advocate speed and maneuverability in
- ship-to-ship combat."
- "Not in this asteroid field," Admiral Whitcomb replied. "But
- you make a good point about staying maneuverable. Align our
- nose toward the center of mass of the planetoid, and back us up,
- one half reverse. Keep us out of the enemy's gunsights as long as
- you can."
- "Firing ministers. Answering one half reverse," Fred said. 264
- The ship slowly angled toward the center of the large asteroid
- and backed away.
- "Cortana?" the Admiral asked. "Do we have a weapons turret
- or not?"
- "Yes, sir," Cortana said, "but the turret's magnetic coils that
- shape and aim the plasma charge have overloaded."
- The Admiral inhaled and sighed explosively. "Master Chief,
- you got anything on Weapons Station One?"
- "Archer missile pods depleted," the Master Chief answered.
- He scanned the display, hoping he had missed something. "No
- rounds for the MAC gun. All Shiva nuclear missiles fired as
- well, sir. The only things left in the tubes are three Clarion spy
- drones."
- "No plasma and no missiles," Admiral Whitcomb said. "We
- might as well open an air lock and throw rocks at 'em."
- Throw rocks? The Master Chief wondered if they could fash-
- ion a slug to shoot from the MAC cannon. Let its magnetic coils
- propel the mass to supersonic velocities and—
- Magnetic coils?
- "Sir," the Master Chief said. "We may have a way to fire the
- plasma turret after all. The Gettysburg's MAC gun has seventeen
- superconducting coils. Cortana might be able to use them to
- shape and aim the plasma."
- "Yes," the Admiral said, nodding.
- "Maybe," Cortana amended and stared off into space, think-
- ing. "Calculating field strength drop-off now." The mathematic
- symbols scrolling across her body increased threefold. She
- frowned. "This would be easier if the Gettysburg was oriented
- bottom to Ascendant Justice's top. I'll have to guess at the inter-
- ference from the intervening hulls, but it still might work.
- Chief—power it up. I'll need to recalibrate the pulse generation
- to match the plasma output."
- "MAC gun magnetic fields coming online," the Master Chief
- said as he tapped in commands. "Rerouting power from Ascen-
- dant Justice's reactor."
- "We won't have enough power to move fast if we have to,"
- Fred remarked, watching the energy fed to the Gettysburg's en-
- gines drop to nothing.
- "That's okay." The Admiral absentmindedly tugged at the end ERIC NYLUNO 265
- of his mustache. "We wouldn't be able to outrun that Covenant
- cruiser even if we had full power. Our only chance is to take
- them out before they take us out. Launch those Clarion spy
- drones, Chief. Target the region abeam that planetoid—so we
- can see around the corner."
- The Master Chief kept one eye on the fluctuating magnetic
- field strengths of the superconducting coils as he programmed a
- course for the spy drones. Set to either side of the large asteroid,
- they'd effectively give them another set of eyes to see past the
- obstructing rock.
- "Drones away," the Chief said and launched them; their feath-
- ery propellant trails vanished into the distance.
- "Cortana," Admiral Whitcomb said, "slave your targeting sys-
- tem to the feed from those drones. I want a clean shot fired before
- the cruiser crosses that rock's shadow and shoots at us."
- "Working," she replied. "Getting magnetic field variations
- from the Ascendant Justice-to-Gettysburg energy transfer."
- "Drones in position and images online," the Master Chief said
- and pushed the video feed to the forward screen.
- Doubled images of the Covenant cruiser appeared. Along its
- three bulbous sections, lateral plasma conduits glowed and every
- turret bristled with energy, ready to fire. Their laser batteries oblit-
- erated the large asteroids in their path, while the smaller ones sim-
- ply bounced off their shields. The warship accelerated as it entered
- the gravitational influence of the planetoid between them.
- "They're going to slingshot around," the Admiral said. "Cor-
- tana, give me your best targeting solution and fire at will!"
- Cortana narrowed her eyes and calculations flashed across her
- body. "Extrapolating their course and speed," she breathed. "I
- got them."
- On Weapons Station One the Master Chief saw the accelera-
- tion coils of the Gettysburg's MAC pulse—then redline with
- power. Magnetic field lines ballooned, overlapped, and distorted
- asymmetrically. Static washed across his MJOLNIR armor's
- shields, and every electrically conducting surface on the bridge
- sparked as the magnetic lines of force penetrated through the
- ship and toward the turret on Ascendant Justice.
- Their only working turret heated, and plasma gathered at its 266
- tip; streamers looped upon themselves like tiny solar flares, vi-
- brated, intensified to orange and then blue-white.
- "Almost there," Cortana cried. "Hang on."
- The ball of squeezed plasma imploded. It instantly boiled
- away a thirty-meter section of armor and hull from Ascendant
- Justice; the plasma vanished for a split second—then a bolt of
- coiled energy corkscrewed toward the edge of the planetoid.
- The Covenant cruiser rounded the planetoid, targeted the Get-
- tysburg, and fired.
- Cortana's single shot impacted on the nose of the enemy craft
- first. The cruiser's shield flashed solid silver for a moment and
- was gone. The supercompressed plasma tore into the hull of the
- warship—exploding the metal where it touched. The plasma
- forked and detonated outward as it chained through the vessel.
- Secondary explosions rippled through the alien ship's hull.
- Edges of its shattered hull glowed red and then white hot as
- their superheated atmosphere vented. The bolt ripped through
- the engineering compartment, shattered their reactors—and the
- entire warship blossomed into fire and ejected trails of golden
- sparks and dying flickers of static electricity.
- The five plasma bolts that the Covenant cruiser fired at the
- Gettysburg dispersed into a red haze. There was no longer any
- magnetic force to shape and guide them to their intended target.
- The bridge crew watched the explosions fade from the for-
- ward screens. The Admiral said, "Status?"
- Fred tapped the screen of the Engineering station and re-
- ported: "Engines and reactor offline. That magnetic pulse did
- something to them."
- Static washed over Weapons Station One as the Master Chief
- looked up and said, "MAC accelerating coils intact. Drone one
- destroyed. Retrieving drone two, sir."
- Cortana's holographic presence was missing, but her voice
- sounded triumphantly through the bridge speakers: "Turret
- number three destroyed. But if we ever get any of the other six
- turrets in working order, we'll have a formidable arsenal."
- "We may not get that chance," Lieutenant Haverson remarked
- as he bent over the NAV station. "Contacts inbound. Small ships.
- Dozens of them. Transferring to the forward screens."
- Armored Pelicans, exoskeleton welders, a handful of Long- 267
- sword singleships, and the odd stealth Chirvptera-class vessel
- appeared on screen.
- "Jiles's fleet," Haverson stated. "And he has us exactly where
- he wants us—dead in the water."
- "Incoming transmission," Cortana said. "Piping it through."
- "Admiral Whitcomb?" Jiles's rich and resonant voice flooded
- the bridge. "Can I be of some assistance? A tow, perhaps, back to
- our base so we can expedite repairs to your ships?"
- "That would be most kind of you," the Admiral said and eased
- back into the Captain's chair.
- Two Laden-class cargo ships came alongside the Gettysburg
- and attached; their engines rumbled.
- "I don't understand," Haverson whispered. "He had us."
- "No, he didn't," Admiral Whitcomb replied. He scowled and
- added, "Governor Jiles may not like it, but he needs us now. The
- Covenant aren't going to send just one ship. After this one goes
- missing for a while, there'll be more. A lot more. This is only the
- start of the battle, son."
- John and his six remaining teammates sat in the Gettysburg's
- machine shop. The room was large enough to fit a Longsword in-
- side, and the walls, ceilings, and deck had robotic arms tipped
- with welders, multitools, and hydraulic presses. Three of the
- arms had high-intensity spotlights directed onto the walls and
- provided a clear, cool, indirect illumination that the Master
- Chief found soothing after having one too many plasma blasts
- etch his retinas.
- They were here because Admiral Whitcomb had ordered the
- Spartans to repair their equipment and get at least six hours of
- sleep. The machine shop was a solid room, reinforced, and un-
- likely to breach in case they were attacked again.
- Linda sat in the corner with her helmet, back torso, and shoul-
- der MJOLNIR armor sections removed.
- Fred and Will used two robotic arms to hold her armor in place.
- They swapped out damaged plates and components with the
- spare parts they'd found in ONI's CASTLE facility on Reach.
- Angry red scars crisscrossed Linda's pale body—the only
- external trace of her double transplant operation. Against Dr.
- Halsey's advice for strict bed rest, Linda had hobbled down here 268
- with her team. She sat cross-legged before a disassembled
- SRS99C sniper rifle and selected gyro compensators, optics,
- and adaptive texture barrel sheaths. Linda proceeded to re-
- assemble the precision-made weapon with the care of a loving
- mother caressing her newborn child.
- Without looking up from her rifle she said, "Now I know what
- you have to do to get a couple of days' R-and-R in this outfit."
- "I heard," Fred remarked, "that you spent the whole time
- sleeping, too."
- "That's why she likes to snipe," Will replied. "I caught her
- snoring last time she posted in that tower on Europa."
- John was glad they could joke about her return from the dead.
- He couldn't bring himself to join in, though. He had accepted
- the mantle of command, and CPO Mendez had taught him to re-
- press his external emotional reactions to preserve his authority.
- Right now, he resented that.
- Kelly rolled over and woke up. She nudged Grace, and they
- sat up, shaking their helmets. "0400," Kelly told them. "That
- was six hours."
- "Felt like a fifteen-minute nap," Grace muttered. "I just closed
- my eyes. You're kidding, right?"
- Kelly looked over to Linda and drew her two fingers across
- her helmet in the smile gesture. Linda returned a rare, bare smile
- to her.
- The smile looked odd to John. He wanted to smile, too, but
- nothing much—apart from Linda—in a long time had given him
- cause: not the hordes of rebels crawling over and through the
- Gettysburg whom Admiral Whitcomb trusted too much, nor the
- imminent return of Covenant forces before their engines and
- weapons could be repaired. .. and certainly not the hundreds of
- dead crew members aboard the Gettysburg, whom they had col-
- lected and placed in cargo bay seven.
- The slight click of metal on metal alerted every Spartan in
- the room. Pistols drew in a blur of motion and rifles leveled at the
- side hatch as it eased open with a squeak.
- Sergeant Johnson and Corporal Locklear stood in the doorway—
- frozen.
- "No one told me this was target practice," Locklear muttered.
- "Else I woulda painted a bull's-eye on my chest." 269
- "Master Chief," the Sergeant said. "Reporting as you
- requested."
- John nodded and lowered his gun, as did the other Spartans.
- "Come in, Marines."
- As he holstered his weapon, John's hand brushed against the
- belt compartment that held Dr. Halsey's data crystals. He hadn't
- decided which to give to Lieutenant Haverson. Did he sacrifice
- the Sergeant to save billions from potential Flood infestation?
- Did it even matter? He had every reason to believe that the Flood
- had been destroyed with Halo—but what if he was wrong?
- "I wanted you both down here to help us discuss our tactical
- options," John told them.
- The COM pulsed to life. Dr. Halsey said, "Master Chief?"
- "Yes, Doctor?"
- "I need Kelly to report to Medical Four," she said. "She re-
- quires one last injection of dermacortic steroids. And I could use
- her assistance on another matter."
- John nodded to Kelly.
- She slowly stretched, stood, sighed, and marched out of the
- room. "I'll be right back," she said, flexing her burned hands.
- "Don't plan the overthrow of the Covenant Empire without me."
- "She's on her way, Doctor."
- The COM snapped off.
- The Master Chief turned to his Spartans and the Marines.
- "Let's go over what we know and see if we've missed anything—
- any way to exploit the enemy's plan." He set down a data pad
- with a star map glittering upon its surface.
- "The Covenant are on their way to Earth," he told them. "They
- are gathering at a battle station and then jumping en masse to the
- Sol system."
- "What happens then?" Fred asked.
- "Assuming we get to Earth first," Linda answered, "our Fleet
- will be waiting for them, and"—she pulled back the bolt on her
- rifle with a clack—"they'll give them a warm reception."
- "But what chance will our forces have?" Will asked. There
- was no fear in his voice, just cool logic. "You saw Cortana's re-
- port. There will be hundreds of Covenant warships. I don't think
- our Fleet or even Earth's orbital MAC platforms can repel a
- force that powerful." f
- 270
- "No," the Chief quietly said. "They can't win. They'll try. But
- the Covenant will eventually take down one of the orbital
- MACs, slip through, and pick off the ground-based generators.
- Just like on Reach."
- Fred visibly flinched.
- Locklear twisted the red bandanna he had tied on his biceps.
- "So we get to watch another fight in space?" he hissed. His fists
- trembled with barely checked rage. "There has to be a way to get
- to those bastards first—on the ground where we can win. Hell,
- I'd even take my chances in hand-to-hand combat. Anything but
- floating in zero gee and watching Earth get burned."
- "What about our original mission?" Linda asked. "Find the
- Covenant home world?"
- "Our priority has to be to warn Earth," the Chief answered.
- "Admiral Whitcomb would insist... and he has the authority to
- scrub our mission."
- "And there's no ground between here and Earth where we can
- take the fight to them," Locklear said. He unclenched his fist and
- dropped his gaze to the deck. "Sometimes," he whispered, "I
- really hate this war."
- Sergeant Johnson worked his mouth but said nothing. He set
- his hand on Locklear's wide shoulder and whispered, "Stand tall,
- Marine. Try to—"
- The Sergeant's gaze fell on the data pad and the star map.
- "Hang on a second. What was it you said about no ground to
- fight on between here and there?" He grinned and picked up the
- data pad. "What's this?" He tapped a dot on the map, squinted,
- and read the tiny words. "This... 'Uneven Elephant'?"
- "Unyielding Hierophant," the Chief corrected. "According
- to Cortana, it's a command-and-control center, a mobile space
- platform where the Covenant fleet will rendezvous before their
- final jump to Earth."
- "Well, there's your ground," Sergeant Johnson said. "On this
- 'elephant'thing."
- Will got up and walked over to the data pad. "It fits with the
- timetable. This station is on the way to Earth."
- Fred offered, "We can drop out of Slipspace in a smaller craft.
- Go in and—"
- "And do what you Spartans do best," Locklear said. "Infil- 271
- trate, kill, and blow shit up. If there's room in this operation for
- an ODST, pencil me in."
- The Master Chief looked to the data pad, then to his team,
- Locklear, and the Sergeant. They were right: For the first time,
- they'd know when and where the Covenant would be. If they hit
- the enemy hard enough, they could stop them before the Cove-
- nant hit Earth... and delay Armageddon.
- The Master Chief gave rapid-fire orders:
- "Fred, Will: Get Linda's suit back together ASAP.
- "Locklear, you're on weapons detail again. Scrounge every
- pistol, rifle, ammo bag, and scrap of explosives on this vessel
- and haul it to Ascendant Justice's launch bay.
- "Grace, Linda, and Sergeant Johnson: Get that Covenant
- drop-ship ready for its last flight. Reinforce the hull for a
- Slipspace-to-normal-space transition.
- "And I'll take this plan to Admiral Whitcomb—make him see
- that it's the only way. We're going to take this fight to the Cove-
- nant. We're going to launch a first strike." CHAPTER THIRTY
- 0440 hours, September 13,2552 (revised date, Military
- Calendar)\Aboard hybrid vessel Ascendant
- Justice-Gettysburg, station-keeping in Eridanus system.
- Time was running out.
- Dr. Halsey could feel the Covenant nearly upon them and her
- window of opportunity shrinking to a pinpoint. Only a few more
- things to take care of before she could go—before she started
- something she couldn't stop.
- Someone approached the clean room, heavy footfalls that
- could only be a Spartan in MJOLNIR armor. Kelly appeared and
- waved from the other side of the glass partition that separated
- the clean room from the rest of Medical Four. Dr. Halsey buzzed
- her in.
- "Reporting for treatment, Doctor," she said.
- Kelly hesitated a moment as she glanced about at the unsterile
- environment the doctor had been working in: Styrofoam cups
- littered the surgical instrument trays, thermal printout paper
- curled from the biomonitors—and the radiation-emitting crystal
- they had found on Reach sat on a nearby instrument tray.
- "I thought that crystal was in the reactor room," Kelly said.
- "Behind plenty of radiation shielding."
- "It's perfectly safe," Dr. Halsey said, "as long as we're in nor-
- mal space." She picked up the crystal and slipped it carelessly
- into her lab coat pocket.
- "Lie down please, Kelly." The doctor gestured to the con-
- toured treatment chair. "Just a few more injections and we're
- done with your burn therapy."
- Kelly sighed and eased herself onto the reclined chair. 273
- Dr. Halsey removed a cloth covering a pair of injectors. She
- clicked them into the ports on Kelly's MJOLNIR armor ports
- that threaded directly into her subclavian and femoral veins.
- "Keep doing your physical therapy, and the dermacortic steroids
- will remove most of the scarring and restore your full mobility
- within another week," she explained.
- "A week?" Kelly growled and struggled to rise. "Doctor, I need
- to be one hundred percent ASAP. The Chief has a mission—"
- Dr. Halsey activated the injectors, and they hissed their con-
- tents into Kelly's body. She relaxed and slumped back on the ta-
- ble, unconscious.
- "No, Kelly," Dr. Halsey whispered. "You're not going on the
- Chief's mission. You're going on mine."
- The sedative in her bloodstream would knock out an ODST in
- peak condition for the better part of a day. Halsey estimated that
- Kelly would be unconscious for a little more than two hours. By
- that time they'd both be far enough along that there'd be no turning
- back.
- Dr. Halsey swiveled one of the displays to face her. She exe-
- cuted the memory-erase command—wiping clean Cortana's
- recollection of the research they had done on old ONI lockdown
- codes. She folded the printout of their results and stuffed it into
- her pocket.
- "Cortana?"
- "Yes, Doctor?" she replied. Her voice through the room's
- speakers sounded distracted.
- "Locate Corporal Locklear and have him report immediately,
- please."
- "Done, Doctor Halsey."
- "Thank you, Cortana. That will be all." She added in a whisper
- so low that only she heard: "Take good care of them all for me."
- Dr. Halsey adjusted the examination table so it lay flat, and
- then loaded medical supplies and equipment onto its undercar-
- riage. She placed a bag with four submachine guns and sixteen
- full clips of ammunition on top of the supplies.
- She found a lukewarm cup of stale coffee and gulped it down
- to the dregs.
- Corporal Locklear appeared at the open entrance to the prep
- room. "Hey, Doc. Cortana said you needed me?" he said tersely. 274
- He smoothed his hand over his shaved head. "I'm kind of busy
- right now, so if this can wait—"
- "Whatever you're doing," Dr. Halsey told him, "this is more
- important." She nodded to Kelly's prone form. "I need your help
- getting SPARTAN-087 to the launch bay."
- "Is she okay?" he asked and took a step toward her.
- "She's fine, but I have to transfer her to the asteroid base. They
- have a piece of equipment necessary to complete her treatment."
- Locklear appeared unconvinced. "But I just saw her—"
- "She's fine," Dr. Halsey assured him. "Just sedated. This pro-
- cedure is... unpleasant, even for a Spartan."
- Locklear looked into Dr. Halsey's eyes and then nodded, ac-
- cepting this explanation. He moved the head of the table and
- wheeled it through the doors, the med bay, and out into the waiting
- elevator.
- Dr. Halsey followed on his heels.
- When the elevator doors closed, she turned to the Corporal.
- "Your hand, please."
- He looked puzzled but held out his hand.
- Dr. Halsey took it and turned it palm-up. She set the long, lu-
- minous blue artifact in his grasp. The light emitted by the alien
- artifact shone onto their faces and made the interior of the eleva-
- tor colder. "This is what the Covenant so desperately want. They
- tore up Reach to get it. They followed us into Slipspace. And
- Po-laski died protecting this thing."
- She watched Locklear carefully, gauging his reaction, and saw
- that he pulled away slightly at this last remark; it had hit home.
- "And what the hell am I supposed to do with it?"
- "Keep it safe," she told him. "Guard it with your life, because if
- the Covenant ever get it, they'll be able to jump through
- Slipspace a hundred times faster than they can now. Do you
- understand?"
- Locklear closed his large fist around the crystal. "Not really,
- Doc. But I can take care of it." He paused and wrinkled his
- forehead in confusion. "But why me? Why not ask one of your
- Spartans?"
- " 'My' Spartans," Dr. Halsey replied in a whisper, "could be
- ordered to hand it over to Lieutenant Haverson. And he'd risk 275
- getting it back to ONI Section Three—even if he had to gamble
- that the Covenant might get it."
- Locklear snorted. "Well, as much as I don't like El-Tee
- White-bread, I'd hand it over if ordered, too. What's the big deal,
- anyway? We're almost home."
- "Almost," Dr. Halsey repeated, and she gave him a slight
- smile. "But the moment you jump, this crystal emits radiation
- like a signal flare. The Covenant will find this ship ... and
- maybe this time they'll win the battle in Slipspace."
- Locklear grimaced.
- She held his steely gaze a moment and then finally let go of
- his hand. "So I know you'll do whatever it takes to prevent this
- object from falling into enemy hands."
- He nodded grimly. "I read you, Doc. Loud and clear." There
- was a hint of respect in his voice. "I know what I have to do ...
- count on it."
- "Good," she said.
- The elevator doors parted. Locklear stuffed the crystal into
- his ammunition vest, and Locklear wheeled the table into the
- Gettysburg's launch bay. "Where do you want her?"
- The bay was a beehive of activity: A hundred of Governor
- Jiles's crew jogged to and from passages carrying data pad
- schematics and field multiscanners; robotic dollies carried fat
- Archer missiles, spiderlike Antilon mines, and slender pods of
- deuterium fuel for the Gettysburg's auxiliary reactors; three
- Longsword fighter craft were being repaired; exoskeletons thud-
- ded along the deck, carrying plates of titanium and welding
- them in place.
- "There," Dr. Halsey told Locklear. "Take her to that ship." She
- pointed to Governor Jiles's Chiroptera-class vessel. It sat on the
- deck looking like a sleeping bat. Its oddly angled stealth sur-
- faces blended into the shadows.
- Locklear shrugged and pushed the loaded gurney.
- Dr. Halsey halted by the ship's port hatch. It was sealed so
- tightly that no seam could be discerned.
- She retrieved the thermal printout from her coat and rechecked
- its contents. She then touched a recessed button on the hull, and a
- tiny plate slid aside revealing an alphanumeric keyboard. Dr.
- Halsey typed in a long string and pressed ENTER. 276
- The hatch parted with a hiss.
- She smiled. "Not even Cortana could crack their crypto, in-
- deed." She waved Locklear inside.
- Locklear obliged her and pushed the gurney into the ship. Dr.
- Halsey followed, secured the examination table, and escorted
- Locklear outside. She turned and headed back into the vessel.
- He started back toward the elevator, then halted. "Doc, when
- we were talking... you said when 'you'jump to Slipspace. You
- meant when 'we'jump to Slipspace, didn't you?"
- Dr. Halsey locked eyes with him for a moment. Then she
- touched a button inside the ship, and the hatch hissed closed be-
- tween them.
- The Master Chief stepped off the elevator and onto the bridge
- of the Gettysburg. Lieutenant Haverson and Admiral Whitcomb
- stared at the displays at Weapons Station One and Engineering.
- "Sirs," the Chief said.
- The Admiral waved him forward without bothering to look up.
- The Chief had two tasks. First, he would inform the Admiral
- of his first-strike mission plan. He had to convince him there was
- no risk to their primary goal of returning to Earth—and a huge
- payoff if they succeeded. The only thing Admiral Whitcomb
- might object to was the high risk to his team.
- The Chief's second task would be more difficult. He touched
- the belt pouch containing Dr. Halsey's data crystals. One was her
- analysis of the Flood infection mechanism and a possible way to
- block it. The second data crystal contained the source files of
- that discovery, and according to Dr. Halsey it would lead to
- Sergeant Johnson's undignified, and unnecessary, death.
- And yet, if it gave Section Three a better chance to stop the
- Floods—if indeed that threat had any meaning after the destruc-
- tion of Halo—maybe it was worth one man's life. Maybe if
- Sergeant Johnson knew, he'd volunteer.
- The Chief's duty was clear: He had to hand over all files to the
- Lieutenant—but deep down, he had to admit that it didn't feel
- right.
- "Cortana." Admiral Whitcomb crossed his arms over his bar-
- rel chest. "Give me an update on our power."
- Cortana's tiny image flickered to life on the holopad near the 277
- NAV station. She crossed her arms over her chest much as he
- had, and minute red symbols raced over her glowing lavender
- skin. "Status is nearly identical to my last report five minutes
- ago, Admiral. Tests on Ascendant Justice's reactor and the Get-
- tysburg's engines are in synch, and will be completed in forty
- minutes."
- "Hurry," the Admiral growled. "I don't want to get stuck with-
- out power when unfriendlies show up. I want to get under way to
- Earth. Weapons status?"
- "Aye, sir," Cortana said. "Plasma turret one is obliterated; no
- possibility of repair. Plasma turrets two, three, and four are re-
- paired, and although I'm waiting for power to test them, I have
- run three hundred twelve virtual test-firings without incident.
- Turrets five, six, and seven, however, require parts Governor
- Jiles does not have in his inventory. Two Archer missile pods on
- the Gettysburg have been refilled. That gives us sixteen missiles
- hot and ready to go, sir."
- "I'd like to know where Jiles got those missiles," Lieutenant
- Haverson muttered. "They're UNSC military contraband."
- "He is zpirate, Lieutenant," Cortana said.
- "Good work," the Admiral told Cortana. "Keep me posted."
- He turned toward the Chief. "You had something, Master Chief?"
- Before the Master Chief could speak his mind, Haverson
- said, "Admiral." He pointed at the forward screens and at the
- Chiroptera-class ship accelerating away from the Gettysburg's
- launch bay. "I thought Jiles was staying on board to oversee
- repairs."
- "So did I," the Admiral said. "Cortana, did you catch Jiles
- leaving on surveillance?"
- "No, sir, but you might be interested in this." On the screen a
- grainy video appeared of Locklear, Dr. Halsey, and a Spartan on
- a gurney boarding the ship. "Locklear left them at the ship, sir.
- Doctor Halsey and SPARTAN-087 departed."
- "Cortana," the Admiral barked. "Hail that ship. Now."
- "Hailing."
- Governor Jiles appeared on forward screen number one. "Ad-
- miral," he said with a nervous smile. "I just saw my ship leave
- the launch bay. Perhaps you can explain why you commandeered 278
- my personal property when I have showed nothing but good
- faith in this—"
- "Hold on to your shirttail, Governor," Admiral Whitcomb
- snapped. "I'm in the middle of finding out who took your ship
- and what precisely is going on. Cortana, any response to our
- hail?"
- "An automated code, sir," she said. Her mouth opened in as-
- tonishment. "UNSC Code Three-Nine-Two."
- "Three-Nine-Two?" the Admiral asked. He stared into space,
- trying to recall the obscure code.
- The Master Chief cleared his throat and told him, "Admiral,
- that is an official 'nonresponse' code, sir. Special Warfare teams
- use it to ignore hails... due to a higher-priority mission."
- "God damn it." The Admiral's face flushed, and he ground his
- teeth. "You mean the good doctor just told me to go to hell."
- On the forward screen the Chiroptera, its batlike wings nearly
- invisible against the black of space, accelerated in a sudden burst.
- Pinpoints of light appeared around the craft that elongated and
- smeared. The ship vanished.
- "A Slipspace transition," Cortana said.
- "I thought you told me," the Admiral said, slowly turning
- on Haverson, "that that ship was locked down. That vital compo-
- nents were removed when it was decommissioned. That there
- was no way it could make a Slipspace jump?"
- "Yes, sir, I did."
- "And would you care to explain why that ship just disap-
- peared, Lieutenant?"
- "Yes, Admiral. I was wrong," Haverson replied without meet-
- ing the Admiral's eyes. "Doctor Halsey apparently found a way
- to circumvent the ONI lockout on the ship's systems."
- On screen, Jiles said, "This is most unfortunate, Admiral. I ex-
- pect to be compensated1
- —"
- "You bet it's unfortunate," Admiral Whitcomb said. "If I'd
- known there was a chance we could have used that ship to jump
- to Earth... I would have done it an hour ago. Cortana, what was
- her trajectory?"
- "Not Earth," Cortana said. "Doctor Halsey's course points to
- no known system in my database."
- The Admiral scrutinized the forward screen: Jiles's face, the 279
- empty star field, and the frozen video of Dr. Halsey and Locklear
- in the launch bay. "I want Corporal Locklear on the bridge ten
- minutes ago. Lieutenant Haverson, have Cortana locate him.
- Then I want you personally to escort that ODST up here."
- Haverson swallowed. "Yes, sir." He marched to the elevator,
- and Cortana told him, "He's on B-Deck, Lieutenant, medical
- storage. He's not answering my COM page." The elevator shut.
- "Chief, you're on the Engineering console," the Admiral said.
- "Cover the NAV station, too."
- "Yes, sir." He moved to the Engineering station's monitors.
- There were thirty-five minutes to go on the shakedown cycle of
- the reactors and engines.
- "Contact," Cortana said. "Bearing zero-three-zero on the so-
- lar plane. One—correction, two—Covenant cruisers. They're
- not moving. Maybe they haven't spotted us."
- "It never rains when it can monsoon," the Admiral declared.
- "They can't help but see us, Cortana, with all the radio chatter,
- ships, and leaking radiation. I bet they're just figuring out how
- best to kill us."
- Governor Jiles turned to someone off screen, and then said,
- "Admiral Whitcomb, given this new development I would like to
- evacuate my people off the Gettysburg and out of harm's way."
- "Of course, Governor. Do what you have to."
- The number three screen snapped off, and the stars reappeared.
- "And I'll do what I have to, too," Admiral Whitcomb said.
- "Cortana, halt the reactor and engine shakedown."
- "Sir? There are risks—"
- "I want them online now. Don't tell me what the risks are. Just
- doit."
- "Yes, sir," she said.
- "Master Chief, get this crate ready to move and stay on your
- toes. We'll need every trick in the book to outmaneuver two
- cruisers."
- "Affirmative, Admiral." The Chief observed the shakedown
- cycle halt and Ascendant Justice's reactors restart. Radiation in-
- dicators redlined, and then dropped to a hairbreadth ... which
- was technically considered safe. The Gettysburg's engines shud-
- dered to life. The Chief felt the vibration though the deck half a
- kilometer away. "Reactors are hot, sir," he reported.
- 280
- The Admiral watched as Jiles's fleet of single ships and tech-
- nicians in jet packs abandoned the Gettysburg, swarming across
- the dark of space back to the safety of their asteroid. "Rats leaving
- a sinking ship?" he wondered aloud.
- The Master Chief wasn't sure if that was a question directed at
- him, but he decided to reply anyway. "They're just men who
- want to live, sir."
- The Admiral nodded.
- "Covenant cruiser accelerating," Cortana announced. "Bear-
- ing on a vector otrtsystem. It's transitioning to Slipspace."
- "Master Chief, get this tub moving. Now! Bring us up to half
- maximum speed."
- "Aye, sir." He tapped in commands. "Answering one half for-
- ward." The radiation warning on Ascendant Justice's reactor
- flickered, but stabilized and subsided.
- The combined mass of the two attached ships groaned as their
- recently repaired superstructures overcame their inertia.
- "Heat up our plasma turrets, Cortana."
- "Aye s—" Her translucent lavender hologram faded to ice blue.
- "Sir, additional contacts at system's edge. Three. No—additional
- transitions from Slipspace; counting eighteen—now thirty Cove-
- nant ships of various classes. Positions zero-three-zero.
- Zero-nine-one, one-eight-zero... Sir, they have us enveloped."
- The star chart vanished in a wink, and a map of the Eridanus
- system appeared with tiny triangles representing Covenant ships
- now encircling the perimeter. The map turned to a side profile
- and revealed half a dozen additional ships scattered along the
- nadir and zenith of the system.
- Admiral Whitcomb stared at the map and shook his head.
- "You know the story of the Alamo, Chief?"
- "Yes, sir. A famous siege with a handful of defenders holding
- off overwhelming forces."
- The Admiral smiled. "Texan defenders, Chief—there's a big
- difference. Colonel William Barrett Travis with one hundred
- fifty-five men held off more than two thousand Mexican invaders.
- They hunkered down inside a tiny fort and fought like wildcats.
- Travis got a handful of reinforcements later—thirty-two men."
- The Admiral's smile faded. "You know there were fifteen
- civilians inside that fort, too?" He looked at the map again. "Well,
- when the 281
- fighting was over, Travis and his men were dead, but it cost the
- enemy six hundred lives."
- "Like the Battle of Thermopylae," the Chief remarked.
- "But there were survivors at the Alamo; they let the civilians
- live." He turned to the Chief. "You think anyone's going to sur-
- vive this fight? You think there's any way to win?"
- The Master Chief tried to think of a way to fight and to win.
- Thirty Covenant ships against their damaged hybrid vessel. Add
- to that the need to defend Governor Jiles's crew. Could he board
- one of the Covenant craft? Get Cortana to infiltrate their systems
- and broadcast falsified orders? They would see him approaching.
- Or was there a blind spot he could approach from? How could
- he hide from the rest of the ships in their fleet, though? And by
- the time he could implement such a plan, the Gettysburg would be
- molten slag.
- "It was a rhetorical question, Chief," the Admiral said.
- "Yes, sir," the Chief replied. "Given our situation, resources,
- and our enemy's determination, then, no, I see no way to win...
- or survive."
- "Neither do I." Admiral Whitcomb stood straight. "Cortana,
- get ready to jump. Chief, accelerate to flank speed course
- zero-five-five by two-nine-zero. Prepare to transition out of
- normal space on my mark."
- "Aye, sir," the Chief and Cortana answered in unison.
- "We're leaving Governor Jiles and his people?" Cortana
- asked.
- Admiral Whitcomb was silent a long moment, and then he
- replied, "We are. This isn't the Alamo and I'm not Colonel Wil-
- liam Barrett Travis, although I dearly wish I were. No, we're run-
- ning. We're trading hundreds of lives for billions."
- The Master Chief absentmindedly reached for his belt pouch,
- and Dr. Halsey's data crystals clinked. "Is this the right thing to
- do, sir?"
- "The right thing?" Admiral Whitcomb sighed. "Hell, son, it
- probably isn't. Personally, I'd prefer to fight, and die fighting,
- and take every one of those Covenant bastards with me. But I do
- not have the liberty to make that choice. My duty is clear: to pro-
- tect the men and women of Earth—not a pack of privateers and
- outlaws." He closed his eyes and said, "The logic of the situation r
- 282
- is also too damned clear. Even if we stay and fight... they'll all
- bejustasdead."
- "Capacitors at foil charge," Cortana announced. "Preparing
- to enter Slipspace. Waiting for your order, sir."
- The Master Chief saw the energy from Ascendant Justice's re-
- actor drain to 5 percent. Motes of blue-green light appeared
- on the forward screen, and the stars stretched and smeared like
- watercolors.
- But something was wrong: The shields of the Chief's
- MJOLNIR armor rippled. The radiation monitors spiked. Where
- was it coming from?
- "Hundreds for billions," the Admiral whispered. "Duty be
- damned ... I'm still going to burn in hell for this." Admiral
- Whitcomb inhaled deeply and closed his eyes.
- "Go, Cortana. Get us out of here. And God forgive me."
- Corporal Locklear whistled, and the robotic dolly obediently
- followed him. The rolling robot was stacked with rifles, pistols,
- ammunition crates, and enough C-7 foaming explosive to blow a
- half-kilometer crater in the side of the Gettysburg.
- He made his way to the cargo elevator and then down to
- B-Deck. He had seen on the Gettysburg's inventory that that was
- where they stored medical supplies... and he wanted a few cans
- of biofoam handy for the Master Chief's extremely well-planned
- suicide mission.
- Not that Locklear had anything against a good suicide mis-
- sion. He'd been on plenty before, and they seemed to give him
- the most bang for his buck. Only now, after so much fighting, he
- just wanted a break: twenty-four hours of sleep, and some R&R.
- He idly tugged at the bandanna tied to his biceps.
- "Damn girl," he whispered. "Why'd you have to die? I had
- plans for you and me."
- What was he doing mooning over a woman? And a Navy flier
- to boot? His squad would have laughed themselves wet if they
- knew... only they were all dead, too.
- "Screw this," Locklear said. "I'm still alive. I'm not going to
- die. And I'm not going to feel guilty for any of this."
- He laughed and told himself, "It's not like the entire universe 283
- hasn't been trying to kill me off, though." Locklear turned to the
- robotic dolly. "Right, amigo?"
- Its treads spun, and the flatbed dolly turned to the right.
- "No, no, stop." He sighed. "Man, I gotta buy myself a ticket
- out of this outfit. Next thing, I'll be asking one of the Spartans
- out on a date... if I could even tell the boys from the girls in that
- squad." He shuddered.
- The doors of the large cargo elevator squeaked open; Lock-
- lear stepped off, and whistled for the dolly to follow.
- Storage Bay Two had racks and shelves that rose from the
- deck five meters to the ceiling. He played his flashlight over the
- uneven surfaces. He spied a desk and terminal in the corner.
- "Hello, inventory control," he said. "The place to go for good-
- ies in any Navy outfit." He strode to the desk, sat down, and
- tapped in a search for medicinal-grade ethyl alcohol.
- A tone chimed in his earpiece, and Cortana's voice said, "Cor-
- poral Locklear, I have an urgent request from Admiral—"
- Locklear squelched his COM. "Enough chatter, lady," he
- murmured. "The bar just opened."
- The location for MED34-CH3CH2OH popped on screen.
- "B-I-N-G-O,"hesang.
- Locklear jumped up. "Come on, amigo. You and me are going
- to throw a party."
- The deck lurched under Locklear's feet. "What the?... We're
- moving?" He turned the inventory display to face him and
- tapped in a command to switch to external camera mode.
- Craggy asteroids moved past them—no, it was the Gettysburg
- that was moving. Locklear squinted and saw a flash of blue. He
- magnified that part of the screen and found a dozen blurry blue
- flares from engine cones and the pulsing lateral lines filled with
- plasma. Covenant ships.
- "Ah hell," he said and backed away from the desk. "So much
- for happy hour."
- Something moved in his vest. Locklear reached in his pocket
- and pulled out the crystal Dr. Halsey entrusted to his care. The
- elongated stone rippled, facets moved and rearranged like the
- pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
- He spied the same blue color on the inventory monitor— 284
- pinpricks of stretched space, the first indication of a
- Slip-space jump.
- "I'm not going through another Slipspace fight," Locklear
- said through gritted teeth. "I'm not going to let them follow us.
- Or let this thing shoot off a signal flare to every Covenant ship in
- the galaxy."
- He grabbed a can of C-7 off the dolly and dropped Dr. Halsey's
- crystal on the deck. He quickly covered the thing with the foam-
- ing explosive. It hardened to a stiff resin in a matter of seconds.
- Locklear grabbed a detonator, inserted it into the foam, and con-
- nected it to a timer.
- Why had the doc given him this to guard? She said because
- the ONI spooks wouldn't have the guts to get rid of it if they had
- to ... would maybe even let it fall into Covenant hands. That
- made sense, but, at the same time, there was something not quite
- right with that explanation.
- Locklear looked at the monitor and the pinpoints of light that
- now almost blotted out the stars.
- Screw it.
- He had his own reasons to blow this thing up—like not want-
- ing to die in another space battle. Like maybe getting some pay-
- back for Polaski's death. The Covenant rat-bastards wanted it so
- bad? Well, screw them, too.
- "This one's for you, Polaski," he whispered.
- Locklear set the timer for three seconds, and punched the
- countdown. He dived for cover behind the robotic dolly and cov-
- ered his head.
- The brilliant flash of sapphire light was the last thing he ever saw.
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