第19页
Fred jinked his Banshee left and right, and dodged plasma bolts from the three guard towers tracking him. He lined up for a second strafing run, and the Banshee's lighter energy weapons sent Grunts scattering.
A hundred meters to go.
Kelly leaned back, coiled her body, and readied to throw the nuclear device as if it were a shotput.
The Covenant cruiser came to life, and its weapons tracked the Banshees. A dozen fingers of plasma ripped the air; white-blue arcs of fire reached for them.
One bolt connected with Joshua's ship. The Banshee's impro?vised shields overloaded and vanished. The canards of the flier melted and bent. The alien airship lurched into a spin as its con?trol surfaces warped, and Joshua fell behind Fred and Kelly just as they entered the gravity lift of the craft.
Fred keyed his COM to raise Joshua but got only static. Time seemed to slow inside the beam of purple light that ferried goods and troops to and from the belly of the ship. The strange glow surrounded them and made his skin tingle as if it were asleep.
Their Banshees rose toward an opening in the underside of the carrier. They weren't riding into the ship, though; they were trav?eling too fast and would cross the beam before they were three quarters of the way to the top.
Fred snapped around. He didn't see Joshua anywhere. Plasma beams hit the well and were deflected as if it were a giant glass lens.
Kelly hurled the nuke straight up into the gullet of the cruiser.
30 HALO: FIRST STRIKE
Fred wrenched the Banshee's controls and arced the craft under the edge of the ship; Kelly was right behind him. The light vanished, and they emerged on the far side of the Covenant vessel.
Behind them, distorted through the gravity lift, Fred saw Covenant troops firing their weapons into the sky. He heard ten thousand voices screaming for blood.
Fred pinged Joshua on the COM, but his acknowledgment light remained dark.
He wanted to slow and turn back for him, but Kelly dived, ac?celerating toward the ground, and she entered the forest that car?peted the mountainside. Fred followed her. They were scant meters above the ground; they dodged trees and blasted through tangles of foliage. A handful of stray shots flashed overhead. They flew at top speed and didn't look back.
They emerged from the tree line and over the powdered snow of the mountaintop. They arced over a granite ridge, came about, and throttled back. The Banshees drifted slowly to the ground.
The sky turned white. Fred's faceplate polarized to its darkest setting. Thunder rolled though his body. Fire and molten metal blossomed over the ridge, boiled skyward, and rained back into the valley. The granite top of the intervening mountain shattered into dust and the snow on their side melted in muddy rivulets.
Fred's visor slowly depolarized.
Kelly leaned across her Banshee. Blood oozed from her ar?mor's left shoulder joint. She fumbled for her helmet seal, caught it, and peeled it off her head. "Did we get 'em?" she panted. Blood foamed from the corner of her mouth.