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“And the humans?” ’Zamamee inquired. “How many of them were our warriors able to kill?”
“The body count is incomplete,” the other Elite replied, “but the preliminary total is thirty-six.”
’Zamamee was shocked. The numbers should have been reversed.Would have been reversed had it not been for the alien in the special armor.
“You will be pleased to learn that your original request has now been approved,” ’Rolamee continued. “We have preliminary reports from other strike groups that most of these unusual humans were killed in the last large engagement. This one is believed to be the last of his kind. Take whatever resources you need, find the human, and kill him. Do you have any questions?”
“No, Excellency,” ’Zamamee said as he stood to leave. “None at all.”
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SECTION III
THE SILENT CARTOGRAPHER
CHAPTER FIVE
D+128:15:25 (Lieutenant McKay Mission Clock) /
On the plain surrounding thePillar of Autumn .
The rain stopped just before dawn—not gradually but all at once, as if someone had flipped a switch. The clouds melted away, the first rays of the sun appeared, and darkness surrendered to light.
Slowly, as if to reveal something precious, the golden glow slid across the plain to illuminate thePillar of Autumn , which lay like an abandoned scepter, her bow hanging out over the edge of a steep precipice.
She washuge , so huge that the Covenant had assigned two Banshees to fly cover over her, and a squad of six Ghosts patrolled the area immediately around the fallen cruiser’s hull. However, from the listless manner with which the enemy soldiers went about their duties, McKay could tell they were unaware of the threat that had crept up on them during the hours of rain-filled darkness.
Back on Earth, before the invention of the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine, and the subsequent efforts to colonize other star systems, human soldiers had frequently staged attacks at dawn, when there was more light to see by, and the enemy sentries were likely to be tired and sleepy. In order to counter, the more sophisticated armies soon developed the tradition of an early morning “stand-to,” when every soldier went to barricades in case the enemy chose that particular morning to attack.
Did the Covenant have a similar tradition, McKay wondered? Or were they dozing a bit, relieved that the long period of darkness was finally over, their fears eased by the first rays of the sun? The officer would soon find out.
Like all sixty-two members of her Company, the Helljumper was concealed just beyond the border of the roughly U-shaped area that the Covenant actively patrolled. And now, with daylight only minutes away, the time had arrived either to commit herself or to withdraw.
McKay took one last look around. Her arm ached, and her bladder was full, but everything else was A-okay. She keyed the radio and gave the order that both platoons had been waiting for. “Red One to Blue One and Green One . . . Proceed to objective. Over.”