第153页

　　"One  shot..."  the  Admiral  muttered.  He  tugged  on  the  end  of  his  mustache  and  sighed.  "Then  we'll  just  have  to  make  it  count."  He  turned  to  the  Master  Chief.  "Lead  the  way,  son."
　　ERIC  NYLUND
　　251
　　The  Master  Chief  stared  at  the  three  large  monitors  that  had  replaced  the  bridge's  observation  windows.  Eridanus  blazed  in  the  center  of  one  display;  stars  shone  with  a  steady  brilliance.  "Move  us  one-point-five  astronomical  units  relative  to  the  sun,"  he  said.  "Heading  zero-nine-zero  by  zero-four-five."
　　"Destination  one-point-five  AU,"  Haverson  said.  "Heading  confirmed.  Coming  about."
　　"Plot  an  elliptical  course  parallel  to  the  plane  of  the  asteroid  belt,"  the  Master  Chief  added.  "Cortana,  scan  for  asteroids  ap?proximately  two  kilometers  in  diameter."
　　"Scanning,"  she  said.  "This  might  take  some  time.  There  are  more  than  a  billion  moving  objects,  some  of  them  in  deep  shadow."
　　"Tell  me  again  about  your  old  mission,"  Admiral  Whitcomb  said.  "You  and  the  other  Spartans  were  here  before?"
　　"Yes,  sir,"  the  Chief  replied.  "Myself,  Fred,  Linda,  Kelly,  and  Sam.  It  was  the  Spartans'  first  real  mission:  an  infiltration  into  a  rebel  base.  We  captured  their  leader  and  got  him  to  ONI  for  debriefing."
　　"I  didn't  even  know  the  Spartans  were  around  in  2525,"  Lieu?tenant  Haverson  said.
　　"Yes,  sir,"  Fred  answered.  "We  just  didn't  have  MJOLNIR  ar?mor  or  the  advanced  weaponry  we  have  today.  We  looked  like  any  other  NavSpecWar  team."
　　"I  very  much  doubt  that,"  Haverson  said  under  his  breath.
　　The  Admiral  raised  one  bushy  eyebrow.  "You  mean  five  peo?ple  made  a  zero-gee  vacuum  infiltration  onto  this  space  station?  And  then  exfiltrated  with  a  prisoner  who  happened  to  be  the  guy  in  charge  of  the  place?"
　　"Yes,  sir.  That  was  the  basic  plan."
　　"I  suppose  it  went  off  without  a  hitch?"
　　The  Master  Chief  was  silent  for  a  moment  as  he  remembered  the  dozens  of  dead  people  they  had  left  behind  on  that  base  ...  and  he  felt  a  pang  of  regret.  At  the  time  he  hadn't  thought  twice  about  removing  any  obstacle  that  would  have  compromised  his  mission,  human  or  otherwise.  Now,  after  fighting  for  humanity  for  two  decades,  he  wondered  if  he  could  shoot  another  human  without  a  good  reason.
　　252 HALO:  FIRST  STRIKE
　　"No,  sir,"  the  Master  Chief  finally  replied.  "There  were  enemy  casualties.  And  we  had  to  blow  their  cargo  bay  to  escape."
　　"So,"  the  Admiral  said,  tapping  his  fingers  on  the  arm  of  the  Captain's  chair,  "they're  not  going  to  be  happy  to  see  a  UNSC  ship  knocking  on  their  front  door?"
　　"I  wouldn't  expect  so,  sir."
　　"Faint  emissions  on  the  D-band  detected,"  Cortana  said.  "Come  about  to  new  heading  three-three-zero."
　　"Aye,"  Haverson  said.  "Three-three-zero."
　　"It's  gone,  now,"  she  said,  "but  I  definitely  heard  something"
　　"Keep  on  this  course,"  Admiral  Whitcomb  ordered.  "We'll  run  it  down."
　　"There's  one  thing  I  don't  understand,"  Haverson  said  as  he  squinted  at  the  forward  displays.  "Why  are  these  people  even  here?"
　　"Pirates  and  insurgents,"  the  Admiral  answered.  "They  hijack  UNSC  ships,  sell  arms,  and  trade  black  market  commodities.  You're  probably  too  young  to  remember,  Lieutenant,  but  before  the  Covenant  War  not  everyone  wanted  to  be  part  of  an  Earth-ruled  government."