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The cruisers came about, apparently more interested in hunt?ing live prey than the motionless Longsword.
The Chief gave one final yank on the tether. He and the pods flew through the aft hatch and crashed into the deck of the Longsword.
Cortana immediately sealed the hatch and fired the engines.
The Chief climbed into the system-ops seat just as they accel?erated and turned toward the cruisers. He activated the weapons systems.
The two Covenant cruisers powered their engines and pursued the Pelican, but it had entered a dense region of the debris field, dodged a chunk of metal and rock, dived over an iceball, and charged through clouds of shattered alien metal. The Covenant fired: Energy blasts impacted on the debris and missed the Pelican.
"Whoever's piloting that Pelican knows their stuff," Cor?tana said.
"We owe them a favor." John fired the Longsword's guns, and tiny silver dots punctuated the trailing Covenant cruiser's shields. "Let's settle that debt."
"You realize," Cortana said, "that we really can't damage those Covenant ships."
The cruiser slowed and turned toward them.
"We'll see about that. Get me a firing solution for the missiles.
42 HALO: FIRST STRIKE
I want them to target their plasma turrets just before they fire. They have to drop a section of their shields for a fraction of a second."
"Working," Cortana replied. "Without precise data, however, I'll have to base my calculations on several assumptions." A string of mathematics appeared on the weapons ops panel. "Give me fire control."
John punched the auto override on the firing systems. "It's yours," he said.
The Covenant cruiser's plasma turrets turned to track them as the ship came to bear. They warmed, and Cortana fired all the Longsword's ASGM-10 missiles.
White vapor trails snaked toward the target.
"Let's move!" the Chief said.
The Longsword accelerated into the debris field, following the Pelican's path. The aft camera displayed the missiles racing to their target. Antimissile laser fire stabbed though space, and three of the missiles exploded into red fireballs. The Covenant's plasma turret glowed white hot—about to fire—when the last missile impacted. The explosion smeared across the hull.
At first the Chief thought it had hit the shield, but then he saw that the explosion was inside the shimmering envelope of en?ergy. The plasma turrets fired; their energy was immediately ab?sorbed into the cloud of dust and vapor around the ship. Dull red plasma ballooned inside the cruiser's shield, obscuring its sen?sors. The ship listed to port, momentarily blind.
"That should keep them busy for a while," Cortana said.
The Longsword arced under a half-kilometer-wide metal plate—just as a plasma bolt impacted and boiled the surface, sending the plate sputtering and spinning through space.
"Or not," Cortana muttered. "Better let me drive."
The autopilot engaged, and the controls jerked out of the Chief's hand. The Longsword's afterburners kicked in, and it ac?celerated toward a field of tumbling rocks. Cortana rolled and pitched, keeping the hull mere meters from the jagged surfaces.