“Cortana . . . what the hell was that?” Keyes asked. “Lovell, push those engine superchargers as hot asyou can make them.”
“Running at three hundred ten percent, sir,” Lovell reported. “ETA fourteen minutes.”
“Replaying and digitally enhancing video record,” Cortana said.
She split the screen and zoomed in on the huge Covenant ship, replaying the video as the large shipfired. The Covenant energy beams looked like pulse lasers . . . but tinged silver white, the samescintillation effect that they’d seen when their shields were hit.
Cortana switched back to view the doomed UNSC destroyerMinotaur . The lance of energy was needle-thin. It struck the vessel on A deck, aft, near the reactor. Cortana pulled the view back and slowed therecord frame by frame—the beam punctured through the entire ship, emanating below H deck by theengines.
“It drilled through every deck and both sets of battleplate,” Captain Keyes murmured.
The beam moved through theMinotaur , slicing a ten-meter-wide swath.
“Projected beam path cut through theMinotaur ’s reactors,” Cortana said.
“A new weapon,” Captain Keyes said. “Faster than their plasma. Deadlier, too.”
The large Covenant ship veered off course and accelerated away from the battle. Perhaps it didn’t wantto risk getting too close to their orbital MAC guns. Whatever the reason, Keyes was grateful to see itwithdraw.
The UNSC forces slowly scattered. Some launched missiles to intercept the plasma torpedoes, but thehigh-energy explosives did nothing to the stop the superheated bolts. Fifty UNSC ships went up likeflares, burning, exploding, falling toward the planet.
The orbital Super MAC guns fired—sixteen hits and sixteen Covenant ships were blasted into flame andglittering fragments.
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The Covenant fleet split into two groups: half accelerated to engage the dispersing UNSC fleet; theremainder of their ships arced upward relative to the plane of the system. That group maneuvered to geta clear shot around the cloud of vaporized titanium from the refit stations. They were going to target theorbital guns.
Plasma charges collected along their sides.
The orbital guns fired. The super-heavy rounds tore through the clouds of ionized metal vapor, leavingwhorls and spirals in the haze. They impacted eighteen incoming Covenant ships—ripped through themlike tinfoil, with enough momentum to pulverize their hulls.
Six Covenant ships cleared the interfering cloud of vapor. They had a clear shot.
The Super MAC guns fired again.
Plasma erupted from the sides of the nearby Convent ships.
The Super MAC rounds hit the vessels and obliterated the enemy.
The streams of plasma, however, had already launched. They streaked toward the orbital guns—impacted and turned the installations into showers of sparks and molten metal.
When the haze cleared, fifteen of the Super MAC orbital installations remained intact . . . five had beenvaporized.
The Covenant ships engaging the fleet turned and fled on an out-system vector.
The remaining UNSC ships did not pursue.
“Incoming orders, sir,” Lieutenant Dominique called out. “We’re being ordered to fall back andregroup.”
Keyes nodded. “Cortana,” he said, “can you give me damage and casualty estimates for the fleet?”
Her tiny holo image coalesced in the display tank. “Yes, Captain,” she said. She cocked an eyebrow athim. “Are you sure you want the bad news?”
Damage estimates scrolled across his personal screen.
They had taken heavy losses—an estimated twenty ships remained. Nearly one hundred shattered andburning UNSC vessels floated, lifeless, in the combat area.
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Captain Keyes realized that he was holding his breath. He exhaled. “That was too close,” he murmured.
“It could have been closer, Captain,” Cortana whispered.
He watched the retreating Covenant. Once again—it was too easy. No . . . it had been anything but“easy” for the UNSC forces, but the Covenant were certainly giving up far earlier than in any previousbattle. The aliens had never stopped once they engaged an enemy.
Except at Sigma Octanus, he thought.
“Cortana,” Captain Keyes said. “Scan the poles of planet Reach and filter out the magnetic interference.”
The view screen snapped to the Reach’s northern pole. Hundreds of Covenant dropships streamedtoward the planet’s surface.
“Get FLEETCOM HQ online,” he ordered Lieutenant Dominique. “Copy this message to the FleetCommander, as well.”
“Aye, sir,” Lieutenant Dominique said. “Channel connected.”
“Tell them they’re being invaded. Dropships inbound at both poles.”
Dominique sent the message, listened a moment, then reported, “Message received and acknowledged,sir.”
The Super MAC guns pivoted and fired—shattering dozens of the Covenant dropships in the shells’supersonic wake.
The remains of the UNSC fleet split into two groups, moving toward either pole. Missiles and MACguns fired and blasted the dropships to bits. The poles were punctuated with thousands of meteoroids asthe bits of hull burned up in the atmosphere.
Hundreds must have gotten through, Keyes thought. Reach had been invaded.
“Incoming distress signal from FLEETCOM HQ planetside, sir,” Lieutenant Dominique said, his voicebreaking.
“On speakers,” Captain Keyes said.
“There are thousands of them. Grunts, Jackals, and their warrior Elites.”The transmission broke intostatic. “They have tanks and fliers. Christ, they’ve breached the perimeter. Fall back! Fall back! If
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anyone can hear this: the Covenant is groundside. Massing near the armory . . . they’re—” White noisefilled the speakers. Captain Keyes winced as he heard screams, bones snapping, an explosion. Thetransmission went dead.
“Sir!” Lieutenant Hall said. “The Covenant fleet has altered their outbound trajectory. . . . they’returning.” She rotated to face the Captain. “They’re coming in for another attack.”
Captain Keyes stood straighter and smoothed his uniform. “Good.” He addressed the crew in the calmestvoice he could muster. “Looks like we’re not too late after all.”
Ensign Lovell nodded. “Sir, ETA to rally point Zulu in five minutes.”
“Remove all missile safety locks,” Captain Keyes ordered. “Get our remote-piloted Longsword into thelaunch tube. And make sure our MAC gun capacitors and boosters are hot.”
Captain Keyes pulled out his pipe. He lit it and puffed.
The Covenant were, of course, after the orbital guns. Their suicidal frontal charge—while almosteffective enough—had been just another diversion. The real danger was on the ground; if their troopstook out the fusion generators, the Super MAC guns would be so much floating junk in orbit.
“This is bad,” he muttered to himself.
Cortana appeared on the AI pedestal near the NAV station. “Captain Keyes, I’m picking up anotherdistress signal. It’s from the Reach space dock AI. And if you think this—” she gestured at the incomingCovenant fleet on screen “—is bad, wait until you hear this. It gets worse.”
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CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
0558 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar) /UNSCPillar of Autumn , Epsilon Eridani System
The mission had just encountered another snag.
It never entered the Master Chief’s mind that he would fail to achieve his objectives. He had to succeed.Failure meant death for not only himself, but for all the Spartans . . . every human.
He stood at the view screen in the cargo bay and reread the priority Alpha transmission Captain Keyeshad sent down:
Alpha priority channel: To Fleet Admiralty from REACH Space Dock Quartermaster AI-8575 (a.k.a. Doppler) /
/triple-encryption time-stamped public key: red rover red rover/
/start file/
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED
Item:Covenant data invasion packets detected penetrating firewall of REACH DOC NET.Counterintrusion software enacted. Resolution: 99.9 percent certainty of neutralization.
Item:Initialization of triple-screening protocol discovered the corvetteCircumference /Bay Gamma-9/isolated from REACH DOC NET.
Item:Covenant ships detected on inbound Slipstream vector intersecting Bay Gamma-9.
Conclusion:Unsecured navigation data on theCircumference detected by Covenant forces.
Conclusion: VIOLATION OF THE COLE PROTOCOL.
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED.
/end file/
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He replayed the distress call from Reach’s groundside FLEETCOM HQ.
“ . . . They’ve breached the perimeter. Fall back! Fall back! If anyone can hear this: the Covenant isgroundside. Massing near the armory . . . they’re—”
The Master Chief copied these files and sent them over his squad’s COM channel. They had a right toknow everything, too.
There was only one reason the Covenant would launch a ground invasion: to take out the planetarydefense generators. If they succeeded, Reach would fall.
And there was only one reason why the Covenant wanted the shipCircumference —to plunder its NAVdatabase—and find every human world, including Earth.
Captain Keyes appeared on the view screen. He held his pipe in one hand, squeezing it so tight hisknuckles were white. “Master Chief, I believe the Covenant will use a pinpoint Slipspace jump to aposition just off the space dock. They may try to get their troops on the station before the Super MACguns can take out their ships. This will be a difficult mission, Chief. I’m . . . open to suggestions.”
“We can take care of it,” the Master Chief replied.
Captain Keyes’ eyes widened and he leaned forward in his command chair. “How exactly, MasterChief?”
“With all due respect, sir, Spartans are trained to handle difficult missions. I’ll split my squad. Three willboard the space dock and make sure that NAV data does not fall into the Covenant’s hands. Theremainder of the Spartans will go groundside and repel the invasion forces.”
Captain Keyes considered this. “No, Master Chief, it’s too risky. We’ve got to make sure the Covenantdoesn’t get that NAV data. We’ll use a nuclear mine, set it close to the docking ring, and detonate it.”
“Sir, the EMP will burn out the superconductive coils of the orbital guns. And if you use thePillar ofAutumn ’s conventional weapons, the NAV database may still survive. If the Covenant search thewreckage—they may obtain the data.”
“True,” Keyes said, and tapped his pipe thoughtfully on his chin. “Very well, Master Chief. We’ll gowith your suggestion. I’ll plot a course over the docking station. Ready your Spartans and prep twodropships. We’ll launch you—” he consulted with Cortana “—in five minutes.”
“Aye, Captain. We’ll be ready.”
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“Good luck,” Captain Keyes said, and snapped off the view screen.
Luck. The Master Chief always had been lucky. He’d need luck more than ever this time.
He turned to face the Spartans . . . his Spartans. They stood at attention.
Kelly stepped forward. “Master Chief sir, permission to lead the space op, sir.”
“Denied,” he said. “I’ll be leading that one.”
He appreciated her gesture. The space operation would be ten times more dangerous than the ground op.
The Covenant would outnumber them ten to one—or more—but the Spartans were used to taking thefight against numerically superior enemies. They had always won on the ground.
The extraction of theCircumference database, however, would be in vacuum and zero gravity—and theymight have to fight their way past a Covenant warship to reach the objective. Not exactly idealconditions.
“Linda and James,” he said. “You’re with me. Fred, you’re Red Team Leader. You’ll have tacticalcommand of the ground operation.”
“Sir!” Fred shouted. “Yes, sir.”
“Now make ready,” he said. “We don’t have much time left.”
The Master Chief regretted his unfortunate choice of words.
The Spartans stood a moment. Kelly called out, “Attention!” They snapped to and gave the Master Chiefa crisp salute.
He stood straighter and returned their salute. He was intensely proud of them all.
The Spartans scattered and gathered their gear, racing for the dropship bay.
The Master Chief watched them go.
This was the mission the Spartans had been tempered for in mission after mission. It would be theirfinest moment . . . but he knew that it might also be their last moment.
Chief Mendez had said that a leader would be required to spend the lives of those under his command.
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The Master Chief knew he would lose comrades today—but would their deaths serve a necessarypurpose . . . or would they be wasted?
Either way, they were ready.
John tapped the thrusters and rotated the Pelican dropship 180 degrees. He pushed the engines to fullpower to brake their forward momentum. ThePillar of Autumn had dropped them while she had beencruising at one-third full speed.
They’d need every millimeter of the ten thousand kilometers between them and the docking station toslow down.
The Master Chief had taken the Spartan’s modified Pelican, rigged with explosives. The station wouldbe locked down—every airlock sealed. They’d have to blast their way in.
He glanced aft. Linda checked one of the three sniper rifle variants she had brought. James inspected histhruster pack.
He had picked Linda because no other single Spartan was as efficient at long-range combat. And that’swhat the Master Chief wanted:long -range combat. If it came to hand-to-hand combat in zero gee withhordes of Covenant troopers . . . even his luck wouldn’t hold out too long.
He had picked James because James had never quit. Even when his hand had been burned off, he hadshrugged off the shock—at least for a while—and helped them dispatch the Covenant behemoths onSigma Octanus IV. The Master Chief would need that kind of determination on this mission.
He took a long look out the front of the Pelican. Their sister dropship initiated a burn and hurtled towardReach.
Kelly, Fred, Joshua . . . all of them. Part of him longed to join them in the ground action.
The radar panel blinked a proximity warning; the Pelican was one thousand kilometers from the dockingring.
The Master Chief tapped the thrusters to align the dropship. He squelched the proximity alert.
The alert immediately re-sounded. Strange. He reached for the squelch again—then stopped as he sawthe space around the Pelican change. Motes of green light appeared, pinpoints at first, which swelled likebruises on velvet black space. The green smears lengthened, compressed, and distorted the stars.
