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“You all heard. This is it. Fred and James, I want to you to refit one of our Pelicans. Get every scrap ofC-12 and shape a charge on her nose. If Captain Keyes downs a Covenant shield, we may have to blastour way into the ship’s hull.”
Fred and James replied, “Aye, sir.”
“Linda, assemble a team and get into every crate ONI packed for us—distribute that gear ASAP. Makesure everyone gets a thruster pack, plenty of ammo, grenades, and Jackhammer launchers if we havethem. If we do get on board, we may encounter those armored Covenant types again—this time I wantthe firepower to take them out.”
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“Yes, sir!”
The Spartans scrambled to make ready for the mission.
The Master Chief approached Kelly. On a private COM channel, he told her, “Crate thirteen on themanifest has three HAVOK nuclear mines. Get them. I have the arming cards. Ready them for transport.”
“Affirmative.” She paused.
The Master Chief couldn’t see her face past the reflective shield of her helmet, but he knew her wellenough to know that the tiny slump of her shoulders meant that she was worried.
“Sir?” she said. “I know this mission will be tough, but . . . do you ever get the feeling that this is likeone of Chief Mendez’s missions? Like there’s a trick . . . some twist that we’ve overlooked?”
“Yes,” he replied. “And I’m waiting for it.”
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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
0534 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar) /UNSCPillar of Autumn , Epsilon Eridani System
ThePillar of Autumn detonated its port emergency thrusters. The ship slid out of the path of the asteroid,missing it by ten meters—
—The Covenant plasma trailing them did not. It impacted the city-sized rock and sent fountains ofmolten iron and nickel spewing into space.
Nine of the ten teardrop-shaped Covenant fighters—nicknamed “Seraphs” by ONI—dodged the asteroidas well. The tenth ship slammed into the asteroid and vanished from the bridge’s view screen.
The other single ships accelerated and swarmed around thePillar of Autumn , harassing her with pulselaser fire.
“Cortana,” Captain Keyes said, “activate our point defense system.”
ThePillar of Autumn ’s 50mm cannons flashed—chipping away at the Covenant ships’ shields.
“Already engaged, Captain,” Cortana said calmly.
“Ensign Lovell,” Captain Keyes said. “Engines all stop and bring us about one hundred eighty degrees.Lieutenant Hikowa, ready our MAC gun and arm Archer missile pods A1 through A7. I want a firingsolution that has our Archer missiles hitting with the third MAC round.”
“On it, sir,” Lieutenant Hikowa replied.
“Aye, sir,” Ensign Lovell said. “Answering engines all stop. Coming about. Brace yourselves.”
ThePillar of Autumn ’s engines sputtered and died. Navigational thrusters fired and rotated the ship toface the real threat—a Covenant carrier.
The enormous alien craft had materialized aft of thePillar of Autumn and launched their single ships.The carrier had then launched two salvos of plasma—which Captain Keyes had only shaken by enteringthe asteroid field.