第47页
The Chief exhaled. Sweat dripped in his eyes, momentarily blurring his vision.
"Good work, Sergeant, Locklear," he panted. His shoulder burned. He tried to move it, but it was stiff and wouldn't respond.
The ship lurched.
"Plasma impact on the starboard foredeck!" Cortana called out. "Shields down to sixty-seven percent." She paused and then added, "Amazing radiative properties. Chief, you need to disable the navigation override so I can maneuver."
Haverson and Polaski strode toward the Chief. Haverson clutched his chest and grimaced in pain from the sword wound. Polaski set her hand on the Master Chief's shoulder. "That's bad," she whispered. "Let me get a first-aid kit from the Pelican, and—"
The Chief shrugged off her touch. "Later." He saw her con?cerned expression melt into one of... what? Fear? Confusion?
"Cortana, show me what to do," the Chief said and made his way to the raised platform in the center of the bridge. "Polaski, you and Haverson get that other hatch open."
"Aye aye," Polaski muttered, her voice tight. She and Haver?son went to the hatch and got to work.
The Master Chief glanced at the control surfaces. As his hand hovered over them, the flat controls rose and became a three-dimensional web of the distinctive Covenant calligraphy. "Where?" he asked.
"Move your hand to the right half a meter," Cortana said. "Up twenty centimeters. That control. No, to the left." She sighed. "That one. Tap it three times."
Faint lights traced the surface as the Chief touched it; they flared red and orange and finally cooled to brilliant blue.
"It worked," Cortana said. "NAV controls coming online. I can finally move this crate. Hang on."
76 HALO: FIRST STRIKE
The ship spun to port. On the displays that still functioned, four more Covenant cruisers tracked them—and fired.
The flagship accelerated, but the plasma torpedoes arced and followed them. "No good," Cortana said. "I can't overcome our inertia in this tub. They're going to hit us ... unless I can get us into Slipspace."
A rhythmic warble pulsed from one of the displays. It flashed red.
"Oh no," Cortana said.
The leading plasma torpedo impacted. Dull red fire smeared across the viewscreens.
"Oh no, what?" Haverson demanded.
"This ship's Slipspace generator is inert," Cortana replied. "The disabled NAV controls were a trick. It must have been the Covenant AI; it lured me here while the drive was physically de?coupled from the reactor. I can maneuver all I want, give orders to the Slipspace generator—but without the system powered up were not going anywhere."
"There's a Covenant AI?" Haverson muttered, and raised an eyebrow.
"Upload the coordinates to power coupling," the Master Chief said. "I'll take care of it."
Two more plasma torpedoes impacted and splashed across the shield. "Energy shields collapsing," Cortana said. "Brace!"
The last shot collided with the flagship. The hull heated, and plasma boiled layers of armor plating away. The ship rolled as plumes of superheated metal vapor outgassed.