第175页
"Police the wounded," Kurt ordered. "Single shots."
His team quickly dispatched them.
Then Kurt spotted his mistake: Two hundred fifty meters back, almost lost in the glare of the vast room, stood Elites… now safely behind stationary shield generators.
Kurt increased the magnification on his faceplate. There were
three groups equidistantly positioned around the hill—thirty Elites in each.
"Twelve, four, and seven o'clock," Kurt whispered over TEAMCOM. "Trouble."
"We've got three SPNKr missiles left," Linda offered. "I could get a trajectory over those shield units."
Kurt then saw outlines that made his stomach clench, silhouettes that hulked over the smaller Elites. Three Hunter pairs, one in each company.
"Too much firepower," he told Linda. "They'd down them before impact. We'll wait for them to come to us. Stand by."
Above them, the towers leaned in at a 45-degree angle; the depth from the top of the hill to the center was now only six meters. Kurt could actually see the concentric rings settling, centimeter by centimeter.
His countdown timer read "17:51."
Every Spartan had about a dozen magazines for their MA5B and MASK assault rifles, three grenades, sniper rifles—normally enough for nearly any engagement. This, however, would be a lopsided siege against an enemy who was well prepared and, Kurt had to admit it, outthinking them.
He moved down to Dr. Halsey.
"Progress?" he whispered.
Dr. Halsey continued to stare at the white compressed space within the center. It flexed, and revealed a tantalizing glimpse of normal daylight beyond, and then shifted back to glare and distortion.
"There is nothing 1 can do to hasten the closing of this aperture," she murmured. "Are you still set on remaining here until the last possible moment?"
"We can't allow the Covenant to get inside," Kurt said, "and I'm not sending part of our team ahead. It would only weaken our forces here, and potentially leave any advance party facing Sentinels on the other side."
She looked up at him and sighed. "I find myself reluctantly agreeing with your tactical analysis."
Kurt unholstered his M6 pistol and set it next to her. "You may need this. Doctor. Keep your head down."
She took the gun and racked the slide as if she had used one many times before.
Kurt moved back to the upper ledge.
The Elites had spread out in three lines. They presented Jackal shields, interlinked them, and started a slow advance toward the hill. This was another inspired tactic. If the Spartans fired at them, they'd just burn through these disposable shields and would still have their personal overshields to contend with.
The Hunter pairs towered in the center of the formations. The thick slabs of alloy they used for shields were impenetrable to any weapon they had.
Kurt glanced to Ash standing by his side, and then to his pack on the ground. Inside were the two cut-down FENRIS warheads. Kurt double-checked the detonator control pad in his gauntlet's data socket. Still there.