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“It drilled through every deck and both sets of battleplate,” Captain Keyes murmured.
The beam moved through theMinotaur , slicing a ten-meter-wide swath.
“Projected beam path cut through theMinotaur ’s reactors,” Cortana said.
“A new weapon,” Captain Keyes said. “Faster than their plasma. Deadlier, too.”
The large Covenant ship veered off course and accelerated away from the battle. Perhaps it didn’t wantto risk getting too close to their orbital MAC guns. Whatever the reason, Keyes was grateful to see itwithdraw.
The UNSC forces slowly scattered. Some launched missiles to intercept the plasma torpedoes, but thehigh-energy explosives did nothing to the stop the superheated bolts. Fifty UNSC ships went up likeflares, burning, exploding, falling toward the planet.
The orbital Super MAC guns fired—sixteen hits and sixteen Covenant ships were blasted into flame andglittering fragments.
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The Covenant fleet split into two groups: half accelerated to engage the dispersing UNSC fleet; theremainder of their ships arced upward relative to the plane of the system. That group maneuvered to geta clear shot around the cloud of vaporized titanium from the refit stations. They were going to target theorbital guns.
Plasma charges collected along their sides.
The orbital guns fired. The super-heavy rounds tore through the clouds of ionized metal vapor, leavingwhorls and spirals in the haze. They impacted eighteen incoming Covenant ships—ripped through themlike tinfoil, with enough momentum to pulverize their hulls.
Six Covenant ships cleared the interfering cloud of vapor. They had a clear shot.
The Super MAC guns fired again.
Plasma erupted from the sides of the nearby Convent ships.
The Super MAC rounds hit the vessels and obliterated the enemy.
The streams of plasma, however, had already launched. They streaked toward the orbital guns—impacted and turned the installations into showers of sparks and molten metal.
When the haze cleared, fifteen of the Super MAC orbital installations remained intact . . . five had beenvaporized.
The Covenant ships engaging the fleet turned and fled on an out-system vector.
The remaining UNSC ships did not pursue.
“Incoming orders, sir,” Lieutenant Dominique called out. “We’re being ordered to fall back andregroup.”
Keyes nodded. “Cortana,” he said, “can you give me damage and casualty estimates for the fleet?”
Her tiny holo image coalesced in the display tank. “Yes, Captain,” she said. She cocked an eyebrow athim. “Are you sure you want the bad news?”
Damage estimates scrolled across his personal screen.
They had taken heavy losses—an estimated twenty ships remained. Nearly one hundred shattered andburning UNSC vessels floated, lifeless, in the combat area.
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Captain Keyes realized that he was holding his breath. He exhaled. “That was too close,” he murmured.
“It could have been closer, Captain,” Cortana whispered.