第39页
He paused to let his shields recharge, then dropped into a low crouch. He brought his rifle to bear and crept into die corridor.
The interior of the passage narrowed, and its smooth purple surface darkened. The Chief had to turn sideways to pass through.
"This looks like a service corridor for their Engineers," Cor?tana said. "Their Elite warriors will have a tough time follow?ing us."
ERIC NYLUND 63
The Chief grunted an acknowledgment as he eased his way through. There was a scraping sound and a flash of sparks as his energy shield brushed the wall. It was too tight a fit. He powered down the shields, which left him just enough room to squeeze through.
Locklear followed behind him, then Polaski, the Sergeant, and finally Haverson.
The Chief pointed at Haverson, then at the door. The Lieu?tenant frowned, then nodded. Haverson closed the hatch and ripped out the circuitry for the control mechanism.
There had been dozens of Engineers in the launch bay— and there were enough on the ship to merit their own access tun?nel. The Chief hadn't seen anything like this on the Truth and Reconciliation.
In fact, he hadn't seen a single Engineer on that ship. What made this ship different? It was armed like a ship of war... yet had the support staff of a refit vessel.
"Stop here," Cortana said.
The Chief halted and killed his external speakers so he could speak freely. "Problem?"
"No. A lucky break, maybe. Look to your left and down twenty centimeters."
The Chief squinted and noticed that a portion of the wall ex?truded into a circular opening no larger than the tip of his thumb. "That's a data port... or what passes for one with the Covenant Engineers. I'm picking up handshake signals in shortwave and infrared from it. Remove me and slot me in."
"Are you sure?"
"I can't do much good in there with you. Once I'm directly in contact with the ship's battlenet, however, I can infiltrate and take over their systems. You'll still need to get to the bridge and manually give me access to their engineering systems. In the meantime, I may be able to control secondary systems and buy you some time."
"If you're sure."
"When have I not been sure?" she snapped.
The Chief could sense her impatience through the neural interface.
He removed Cortana's data chip from the socket in his helmet.
64 HALO: FIRST STRIKE
The Chief felt her leave his mind, felt the heat rush back into his head, pulsing with the rhythm of his heart... and once again, he was alone in the armor.
He slotted Cortana's chip into the Covenant data port.
Locklear's face rippled with disgust, and he whispered, "You couldn't pay me to stick any part of myself in that thing."
The Chief made a slashing gesture across his throat, and the Marine fell silent.
"I'm in," Cortana said.
"How is it?" the Chief said.
There was a half-second pause. "It's ... different," Cortana replied. "Proceed thirty meters down this passage and turn left."
The Chief motioned the team forward.