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Ash resisted the urge to vomit. This was the stupidest plan he'd ever thought up. Too late now, though, to back out.
One moment he was on the ledge looking at Dr. Halsey while she manipulated holographic symbols—the next Team Saber was on the factory floor, his insides twisted around, and they were running for their lives.
From the clouds of Sentinels high overhead, a hundred pairs peeled off and dove after them.
The Spartans of Team Saber scattered, dodging under pipes and glowing crystalline conduits, moving as fast as they could. Speed was the only viable tactic now.
Ash spotted the target, looming so large before him that it seemed more geological feature than destructible object. The pyramid of spheres stretched up forever—millions and millions of golden balls hobbling in place, gently turning—all held in place by three massive subterranean force-field generators.
The floor was blue metal patterned with interlinked Forerunner symbols. Ahead, however, a glowing budge of silver shone like a beacon. Only ten meters across, this was the apex of one generator that extended ten thousand meters under the factory.
Overhead a fountain of molten metal arced kilometers through the air, a brilliant rainbow of fire. The magnetic alignment cou-
pling at the base was Blue Team's target. Tom and Lucy had stealthed ahead of them all to blow up the three-story-tall crystal on the far side of the factory.
Ash paused and turned to see where the pursuing Sentinels were.
His eyes registered flashes. His training took over and his body moved before he cluttered his mind with thought.
He stepped right, pushed off, and jumped left. The floor exploded. Shrapnel tore through his SPI armor, and he was remotely aware that something had happened to his left leg, but he ignored it.
Ash rolled, turned, and chucked a grenade as three Sentinel pairs streaked over him.
The grenade bounced off their shields, and harmlessly detonated in the air.
At least this part of the plan was working; they were drawing fire.
He detected a dozen more Sentinels in the air, shooting at other targets, bathing the factory in brilliant gold illumination, razor-sharp shadows, and glowing molten craters.
Ash broadcast on TEAMCOM: "Form up; accelerate approach to target."
On his TACMAP he marked the apex of the generator, and then placed a secondary marker on the extraction point—a location three hundred meters distant over open ground.
Ash charged forward, running a crazy pattern—right, left, sudden stops, rolls and ducks. Energy beams fell around him. Fire washed over him. Liquid metal spattered his back, but he didn't flinch. His eyes clouded red, and his vision tunneled on the glowing target ahead.
He had to get there. He would get there.
Ash sprinted straight ahead. Every muscle pumped and burned with lactic acid.
Olivia and Holly got to the dome, turned, and their Jackal
gauntlets crackled to life. They stood together, overlapping energy shields.
Behind them loomed the impossibly large pyramid of spheres, all eyes turning toward them.