Halo Contact Harvest 17

He saw tan fur bristling from breaks in the driver's armor and recognized the creature as the
taller of the gold-armored alien's escorts from the day they'd met in the botanical gardens.

"Watch yourselves!" Byrne shouted as the alien accomplished a quick banking turn around the halves of the ruined Warthog. Hot metal spikes rattled from two rifles mounted above and behind its
wheels, forcing Byrne and the three recruits behind the berm to duck and cover. The spikes split the uppermost row of sandbags and drilled into the tower's polycrete wall. Some of the rounds
splintered against the metal security door, scattering red-hot shrapnel onto the asphalt near Byrne's boots.-Chpt.21