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He was not about to charge into battle, however, with theIroquois at half power, her structural integrityalready compromised, and with no AI to mount a point defense against Covenant single ships. Oneplasma torpedo to their lower decks would gut them.
If he remained where he was and attempted to shoot into the fray, he was just as likely to accidentally hita friendly ship as a Covenant vessel.
No. There were several damaged Covenant ships in the area. He would finish them off—make sure theycould not launch any attack on their fleet. There was no glory in the action—but considering theirpresent condition, glory was of little concern. Survival was.
Captain Keyes watched the battle rage in the starboard camera. TheLeviathan took a plasma bolt, andher foredecks burned. One Covenant ship collided with the UNSC frigateFair Weather ; thesuperstructures of the two craft locked together—and both ships opened fire at point-blank range.TheFair Weather detonated into a ball of nuclear fire that engulfed the Covenant destroyer. Both ships
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faded from the tactical display.
“Covenant ship detected in orbit around Sigma Octanus Four,” Lieutenant Hall reported.
“Let me see it,” Keyes said.
A small vessel appeared on-screen. It was smaller than the Covenant equivalent of a frigate . . . butdefinitely larger than one of the aliens’ dropships. It was sleek and seemed to waver in and out of theblankness of space. The engine pods were baffled and devoid of the characteristic purple-white glow ofCovenant propulsion systems.
“They’re in a geosynchronous orbit over Cote d’Azur,” Lieutenant Hall reported. “Their thrusters arefiring microbursts. Precision station keeping, sir, if I were to guess.”
Lieutenant Dominique interrupted. “Detected scattering from a narrow-beam transmission on the planetsurface, sir. A far-infrared laser.”
Captain Keyes turned toward the main battle on-screen. Was this slaughter just a diversion?
The original attack on Sigma Octanus IV had been for the sole purpose of landing ships and invadingCote d’Azur. Once accomplished, their battle group had left.
And now—whatever the Covenant’s purpose was groundside, they were sending information to thisstealth ship . . . while the rest of their fleet kept the UNSC forces from interfering.
“Like hell,” he muttered.
“Ensign Lovell, plot a collision course for that ship.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Lieutenant Hall, push the engines as far as you can. I need every bit of speed you can get me.”
“Yes, sir. If we vent primary coolant and use our reserve, I can boost the engine output to sixty-sixpercent . . . for five minutes.”
“Do it.”
TheIroquois moved sluggishly toward the Covenant ship.
“Intercept in twenty seconds,” Lovell said.
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“Lieutenant Hikowa, arm Archer missile pods A through D. Blow that Covenant son of a bitch out of thesky.”
“Archer missile pods armed, sir,” she replied smoothly. Her hands moved gracefully over the controls.“Firing.”