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The Covenant ship slowly turned toward thePillar of Autumn and its turret tracked their position. For thefirst time in his life, Keyes prayed that a Covenant ship’s shields would hold.
The alien ship became a flash of white light; its outline blurred. Their shields held for a split second asthe Shiva warhead detonatedinside its protective aura. The shockwave rebounded off the asymmetricalshape of the shields just before their collapse. Jets of energy exploded outward at three different angles.Thunder and plasma roiled into space . . . cleanly missing thePillar of Autumn .
The light faded and the Covenant flagship was gone.
Captain Keyes puffed again on his pipe and tapped it out. Maybe now they had a chance to rally whatremained of the UNSC fleet and defend Reach.
“Congratulations Captain,” Cortana said. “I couldn’t have done better myself.”
“Thank you, Cortana. Is there a planet nearby?”
“Beta Gabriel,” she said. “Fourteen million kilometers. Practically next door.”
“Good. Ensign Lovell, plot a course for a slingshot orbit. Reverse our trajectory back in-system.”
“Sir,” Lieutenant Dominique interrupted. “Incoming transmission from Reach. It’s the Spartans.”
“On speakers, Lieutenant.”
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Static hissed from the channel. A man’s voice broke through. “—bad. Reactor complex seven has beencompromised. We’re falling back. Might be able to save number three. Set off those charges now!”There was a series of explosions . . . more white noise, then the man returned. “Be advised Pillar ofAutumn, groundside reactors are being taken. Orbital guns at risk. Nothing we can do. Too many. Wewill have to use the nukes—”Static washed away the transmission.
“Captain,” Cortana said. “You need to see this, sir.”
She overlaid a tactical map of the system on the main view screen. Tiny triangular red markers winkedon the edges: Covenant ships—dozens of them—reentered the system from Slipspace.
“Sir,” she said, “when the guns around Reach go down. . . .”
“There will be nothing left to stop the Covenant,” he finished.
Captain Keyes turned to Lieutenant Dominique. “Get those Spartans back online,” he said. “Tell them toevac ASAP. In a few minutes, it’s going to get very nasty around Reach.”
He took a deep breath. “Then raise the Master Chief on a secure channel. Let’s hope he has some goodnews for us.”
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CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
0637 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar) /Epsilon Eridani System, Reach Station Gamma
“Multiple signals on motion tracker,” the Master Chief said. “They’re all around us.”
The passageway behind the Master Chief and Blue-One swarmed with blips. So did docking Bay Nine,ahead of them. The Master Chief saw, however, not all the blips were hostiles. Four Marine friend-or-foe tags strobed on his heads-up display: SGT. JOHNSON, PVT. O’BRIEN, PVT. BISENTI, and PVT.JENKINS.
The Master Chief opened up a COM channel to them. “Listen up, Marines. Your lines of fire are sloppy;tighten them up. Concentrate on one Jackal at a time—or you’ll just waste your ammo on their shields.”