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　　SECTION  I
　　PILLAR  OF  AUTUMN
　　CHAPTER  ONE
　　0127  Hours  (Ship’s  Time),  September  19,  2552  (Military  Calendar)  /  UNSC  CruiserPillar  of  Autumn  ,  location  unknown.
　　ThePillar  of  Autumn  shuddered  as  her  Titanium-A  armor  took  a  direct  hit.
　　Just  another  item  in  the  Covenant’s  bottomless  arsenal,Captain  Jacob  Keyes  thought.Not  a  plasma  torpedo,  or  we’d  already  be  free-floating  molecules.
　　The  warship  had  taken  a  beating  from  Covenant  forces  off  Reach  and  it  was  a  miracle  that  the  hull  remained  intact  and  even  more  remarkable  that  they’d  been  able  to  make  a  jump  into  Slipspace  at  all.
　　“Status!”  Keyes  barked.  “What  just  hit  us?”
　　“Covenant  fighter,  sir.  Seraph-class,”  the  tactical  officer,  Lieutenant  Hikowa,  replied.  Her  porcelain  features  darkened.  “Tricky  bastard  must  have  powered  down  and  slipped  past  our  sentry  ships.”
　　A  humorless  grin  tugged  at  Keyes’  mouth.  Hikowa  was  a  first-rate  tactical  officer,  utterly  ruthless  in  a  fight.  She  seemed  to  take  the  Covenant  fighter  pilot’s  actions  as  a  personal  insult.  “Teach  him  a  lesson,  Lieutenant,”  he  said.
　　She  nodded  and  tapped  a  series  of  orders  into  her  panel—new  orders  for  theAutumn  ’s  fighter  squadron.
　　A  moment  later,  there  was  radio  chatter  as  one  of  theAutumn  ’s  C709  Longsword  fighters  went  after  the  Seraph,  followed  by  a  cheer  as  the  tiny  alien  ship  transformed  into  a  momentary  sun,  complete  with  its  own  system  of  co-orbiting  debris.
　　Keyes  wiped  a  trickle  of  sweat  from  his  forehead.  He  checked  his  display—they’d  reverted  back  into  real  space  twenty  minutes  ago.Twenty  minutes  ,  and  the  Covenant  picket  patrols  had  already  found  them  and  started  shooting.
　　He  turned  to  the  bridge’s  main  viewport,  a  large  transparent  bubble  slung  beneath  theAutumn  ’s  bow  superstructure.  A  massive  purple  gas  giant—Threshold—dominated  the  spectacular  view.  One  of  the  Longsword  fighters  glided  past  as  it  continued  its  patrol.
　　When  Keyes  had  been  given  command  of  thePillar  of  Autumn  ,  he’d  been  skeptical  of  the  large,  domed  viewport.  “The  Covenant  are  tough  enough,”  he  had  argued  to  Admiral  Stanforth.  “Why  give  them  an  easy  shot  into  my  bridge?”
　　He’d  lost  the  argument—captains  don’t  win  debates  with  admirals,  and  in  any  case  there  simply  hadn’t  been  time  to  armor  the  viewport.  He  had  to  admit,  though,  the  view  was  almost  worth  the  risk.  Almost.
　　He  absently  toyed  with  the  pipe  he  habitually  carried,  lost  in  thought.  It  ran  completely  counter  to  his  nature  to  slink  around  in  the  shadow  of  a  gas  giant.  He  respected  the  Covenant  as  a  dangerous,  deadly  enemy,  and  hated  them  for  their  savage  butchery  of  human  colonists  and  fellow  soldiers  alike.  He  had  never  feared  them,  however.  Soldiers  didn’t  hide  from  the  enemy—they  met  the  enemy  head-on.
　　He  moved  back  to  the  command  station  and  activated  his  navigation  suite.  He  plotted  a  course  deeper  in-system,  and  fed  the  data  to  Ensign  Lovell,  the  navigator.
　　“Captain,”  Hikowa  piped  up.  “Sensors  paint  a  squadron  of  enemy  fighters  inbound.  Looks  like  boarding  craft  are  right  behind  them.”