第159页
Subject:PROGRESS REPORT/OPERATIONHYPODERMIC
Classification:EYES ONLY TOP SECRET (SECTION III X-RAY DIRECTIVE)
/file extraction-reconstitution complete/
/start file/
Secured space-dock repair bay. CorvetteCircumference undergoing final stealth upgrades. Shipyardrecords successfully altered.
Queries detected from transient AI. Operation deemed AT RISK of being uncovered.
As per contingency plan TANGO: ship registration numbers scrambled; hard isolated from docksidecomputer network; counterintrusion software implemented; Alpha security protocols enacted onboard.
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Just as you called it, sir. Don’t worry—as far as the station computers are concerned,Circumferencenever even existed.
/end file/
/scramble-destruction process enabled/
PressENTER to continue.
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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
0447 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar) /Remote Sensing StationFermion, Epsilon Eridani System’s edge
Chief Petty Officer McRobb entered the command center of Remote Sensing StationFermion .Lieutenants (JG) Bill Streeter and David Brightling stood and saluted.
He wordlessly returned their salutes.
The wall-sized monitors displayed the contents of the last Slipstream probes: multidimensional charts, arainbow of false color enhancements, and a catalog of objects adrift in the alternate space. Some of thenew officers thought the representations looked “pretty.”
To Chief McRobb, however, each pixel on the screens represented danger. So many things could hide inmultidimensional space: pirates, black marketers . . . the Covenant.
McRobb inspected their duty stations. He double-checked that all programs and hardware were runningwithin UNSC specifications. He ran his hand along the monitors and keypads looking for dust. Theirstations were in tip-top shape.
Considering what they were guarding, Reach, anything less than perfection was unacceptable. He madecertain his crew knew it, too.
“Carry on,” he said.
Since the battle of Sigma Octanus, FLEETCOM had reassigned top people to its Remote SensingStations. Chief McRobb had been pulled from Fort York on the edge of the Inner Colonies. He had spentthe last three months helping his crew brush up on their abstract and complex algebras to interpret theprobe data.
“Ready to send out the next set of probes, sir,” Lieutenant Streeter said. “Linear accelerator andSlipspace generators online and charged.”
“Set for thirty-second return cycle and launch,” Chief McRobb ordered.
“Aye, sir. Probes away, sir. Accelerated and entering the Slipstream.”
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FLEETCOM didn’t really expect anything to attack the Reach Military Complex. It was the heart of theUNSC military operations. If anything did attack it, the battle would be a short one. There were twentySuper MAC guns in orbit. They could accelerate a three-thousand-ton projectile to point four-tenths thespeed of light—and place that projectile with pinpoint accuracy. If that wasn’t enough to stop aCovenant fleet, there were anywhere from a hundred to a hundred and fifty ships in the system at anygiven time.