第47页
Kelly held up her hand and made a fist. She pointed to the secure hatch on the starboard side of the hold.
John signaled Fred and Kelly and motioned them to go forward. Fred used the lockbreaker on the doorand it popped open. They entered and closed it behind them.
John, Sam, and Linda waited. There was a sudden motion and the Spartans snapped their weapons tofiring positions—
A robot forklift passed down an adjacent aisle.
The massive aft doors of the cargo hold parted with a hiss. Light spilled into the hold. A dozendockworkers dressed in coveralls entered.
John gripped his MA2B tighter. One man looked down the aisle where they crouched in the shadows.He stooped, paused—
John raised his weapon slowly, his hands steady, and sighted on the man’s chest. “Always shoot forcenter of mass,” Mendez had barked during weapons training. The man stood, stretched his back, andmoved on, whistling quietly to himself.
Fred and Kelly returned, and Kelly opened and closed her hand, palm out—she had placed the marker.
John grabbed his helmet from his duffel bag and slipped it on. He pinged the navigation marker and sawthe blue triangle flash once on his heads-up display. He returned Kelly’s thumbs-up and removed thehelmet.
John stowed his helmet and MA2B and motioned for the rest of the team to do the same. They casuallywalked out of theLaden ’s aft cargo hold and onto the rebel base.
The docking bay was hewn from solid rock. The ceiling stretched a kilometer high. Bright lightsoverhead effectively illuminated the place, looking like tiny suns in the sky. There were hundreds ofships docked within the cavern—tiny single craft, Mako-class corvettes, cargo freighters, and even acaptured UNSC Pelican dropship. Each craft was held by massive cranes that traveled on railroad tracks.The tracks led toward a series of large airlock doors. That’s how theLaden must have gotten inside.
There were people everywhere: workers and men in crisp white uniforms. John’s first instinct was toseek cover. Every one of them was a potential threat. He wished he had his gun in hand.
----------------------- Page 83-----------------------
He remained calm and strode among these strangers. He had to set the right example for his team. If hisrecent encounter with the ODSTs in the gym of theAtlas had been any indication, he knew his teamwouldn’t interact well with the natives.
John made his way past dockworkers and robotic trams full of cargo and vendors selling roasted meat onsticks. He walked toward a set of double doors set in the far rock wall, marked: PUBLIC SHOWERS.He pushed through and didn’t look back.
The place was almost empty. One man was singing in the shower, and there were two rebel officersundressing near the towel dispensers.
John led his team to the most distant corner of the locker room and hunkered down on one of thebenches. Linda sat with her back to them, on lookout duty.
“So far so good,” John whispered. “This will be our fallback position if everything falls apart and we getseparated.”