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The Master Chief climbed up the ladder and put his back against the plate—pushed. It popped free witha metallicsnap .
He eased the plate down and set it aside. He attached the fiber-optic probe, fed it up through the hole.
All clear.
He flexed his leg muscles and sent the MJOLNIR armor up through the hole, pulling himself into the
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next chamber with his left hand. His right hand held the silenced assault rifle as if it were no heavierthan a pistol. He braced for incoming enemy fire—
—Nothing happened.
He moved forward and surveyed the small room. The stone-walled chamber was dark, and was linedwith shelving units. Each unit held jars filled with clear liquid and insect specimens. Boxes and crateswere stacked neatly on the floor.
Kelly entered next, then Fred and James.
“Picking up motion sensor signals,”Kelly said over the COM channel.
“Jam them.”
“Done,”she replied. “They may have gotten a piece of us, though.”
“Spread out,” the Master Chief ordered. “Get ready to jump back into the hole if this gets too hot.Otherwise, initiate the standard distract-and-destroy.”
The clatter of alien hooves on marble echoed behind a door to their right.
The Spartans melted into the shadows. The Master Chief crouched behind a crate and unsheathed hiscombat knife.
The door opened and four Jackals stood in the door frame; they held active energy shields in front ofthem—warping their already ugly vulture faces. The blue-white glow of the energy shield pulsedthrough the dark chamber.Good, the Master Chief thought.That should play hell with their night vision.
The Jackals held plasma pistols at the ready in their free hands; the barrels of the guns moved erraticallyas the aliens whispered to one another . . . then steadied as, in careful, slow movements, they moved in.
The aliens fanned out into a rough “delta” formation—the lead Jackal a meter ahead of his compatriots.The group approached the Master Chief’s hiding spot.
There was a slight noise: the clink of glass bottles on the other side of the room.
The Jackals turned . . . and presented their unshielded backs to the Master Chief.
He exploded from his hiding place and jammed his blade into the base of the closest Jackal’s back. Hesnapped his right foot out, caught the back of the next Jackal’s head, crushing its skull.
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The remaining aliens spun, glistening energy shields interposed between them and him.
There were three coughs from silenced MA5Bs. Alien blood—black in the harsh blue-white light—spattered across the inner surfaces of the energy shields as the silenced rounds found their marks. TheJackals toppled to the ground.
The Master Chief policed their plasma pistols and retrieved the shield generators clamped on theirforearms. He had standing orders to collect intact specimens of Covenant technology. The Office ofNaval Intelligence had not been able to replicate the Covenant’s shield technology. But they weregetting close.