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Archer missiles streaked toward the Covenant stealth ship—but as they closed with the target, theystarted to swerve from side to side, then spun out of control. The spent missiles fell toward the planet.
Lieutenant Hikowa cursed quietly in Japanese. “Missile guidance locks jammed,” she said. “Their ECMspoofed the guidance packages, sir.”
No other choice, then,Keyes thought.They can jam our missiles—let’s see them jam this.
“Run them over, Ensign Lovell,” Keyes ordered.
He licked his lips. “Aye, sir.”
“Sound collision alarm,” Captian Keyes said. “All hands, brace for impact.”
“She’s moving,” Lovell said.
“Keep on her.”
“Course correcting now. Hang on,” Lovell said.
The eight-thousand-tonIroquois slammed into the tiny Covenant ship.
On the bridge, they barely felt the impact. The diminutive alien vessel, however, was crushed from theforce. Her crippled hull spun toward Sigma Octanus IV.
“Damage report!” Keyes bellowed.
“Lower decks 3 through 8 show hull breach, sir,” Hall called out. “Internal bulkheads were alreadyclosed, and no one was in those areas, per your orders. No systems damage reported.”
“Good. Move to her original position, Ensign Lovell. Lieutenant Dominique, I want that transmissionbeam intercepted.”
The ventral cameras showed the Covenant ship plunge into the atmosphere. Its shield glowed yellow,
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then white—then dissipated as the ship’s systems failed. It burst into crimson flame and burned acrossthe horizon, a black plume of smoke trailing in its wake.
“TheIroquois is losing altitude,” Ensign Lovell said. “We’re falling into the planet’s atmosphere . . .bringing us about.” TheIroquois spun 180 degrees. The Ensign concentrated on his displays, then said,“No good, we need more power. Sir, permission to fire emergency thrusters?”
“Granted.”
Lovell exploded the aft emergency thrusters and theIroquois jumped. Lovell’s eyes were locked on therepeater displays as he fought for every centimeter of maneuvering he could get. Sweat ran down hisforehead and soaked his flight suit.
“Orbit stabilizing—barely.” Lovell exhaled with relief, then turned to face Keyes. “Got it, sir. Thrustersto precision station keeping.”
“Receiving,” Lieutenant Dominique said, and then paused. “Receiving . . . something, sir. It must beencrypted.”
“Make sure you’re recording, Lieutenant.”
“Affirmative. Recorders active . . . but the codebreaker software can’t crack it, sir.”
Captain Keyes turned back to the tac displays, half expecting to see a Covenant ship in firing position.
There wasn’t much left of either the Covenant or UNSC fleets. Dozens of ships drifted in space,billowing atmosphere and burning. The rest moved slowly. A few flickered with fire. Scatteredexplosions dotted the black.
One undamaged Covenant destroyer turned, however, and left the battlefield. It came about and headedstraight for theIroquois .
“Uh-oh,” Lovell muttered.
“Lieutenant Hall, get me theLeviathan —priority Alpha channel,” Keyes ordered.