第172页
He glanced aft. Linda checked one of the three sniper rifle variants she had brought. James inspected histhruster pack.
He had picked Linda because no other single Spartan was as efficient at long-range combat. And that’swhat the Master Chief wanted:long -range combat. If it came to hand-to-hand combat in zero gee withhordes of Covenant troopers . . . even his luck wouldn’t hold out too long.
He had picked James because James had never quit. Even when his hand had been burned off, he hadshrugged off the shock—at least for a while—and helped them dispatch the Covenant behemoths onSigma Octanus IV. The Master Chief would need that kind of determination on this mission.
He took a long look out the front of the Pelican. Their sister dropship initiated a burn and hurtled towardReach.
Kelly, Fred, Joshua . . . all of them. Part of him longed to join them in the ground action.
The radar panel blinked a proximity warning; the Pelican was one thousand kilometers from the dockingring.
The Master Chief tapped the thrusters to align the dropship. He squelched the proximity alert.
The alert immediately re-sounded. Strange. He reached for the squelch again—then stopped as he sawthe space around the Pelican change. Motes of green light appeared, pinpoints at first, which swelled likebruises on velvet black space. The green smears lengthened, compressed, and distorted the stars.
----------------------- Page 281-----------------------
—a Slipstream entry point.
The Master Chief cut the Pelican’s engines, slowing them for impact.
A Covenant frigate materialized a kilometer from the dropship’s nose. Its prow filled their view screen.
----------------------- Page 282-----------------------
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
0616 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar) /UNSC Pelican dropship, Epsilon Eridani System near Reach Station Gamma
“Brace for maneuvering!” the Master Chief barked.
The Spartans dove for safety harnesses and strapped in. “All secure!” Kelly shouted.
The Master Chief killed the Pelican’s forward thrusters and triggered a short, sudden reverse burn. TheSpartans were brutally slammed forward into their harnesses as the Pelican’s acceleration bled away.The Master Chief quickly shut down the engines.
The tiny Pelican faced the Covenant frigate. At a kilometer’s distance, the alien ship’s launch bay andpulse laser turrets looked close enough to touch on the view screen; enough firepower to vaporize theSpartans in the blink of an eye.
The Master Chief’s first instinct was to fire their HE Anvil-II missiles and autocannons—but he checkedhis hand as he reached for the triggers.
That would only attract their attention . . . which was the last thing he wanted. For the moment, the alienvessel ignored them—probably because the Master Chief had shut down the Pelican’s engines. But theship also seemed dead in space: no lights, no single ships launched, and no plasma weapons charging.
The dropship continued toward the docking station, their momentum putting distance between them andthe frigate.