Halo Lighting System Games manual

FIRST STRIKE ERIC NYLUND BALLANTINE BOOKS • NE W YORK[...]

Other books based on Xbox games: HALO: THE FLOOD by William C. Dietz HALO: THE FALL OF REACH by Eric Ny lund BRUTE FORCE: BETR AYALS by Dean W esley Smith CRIMSON SKIE S by Eric Nylun d, Michael B. Lee, Na ncy Berman, and Eric S. Trautmann Books published by The Random House Pub lishing Group are available at quantity discounts on bulk purchases fo[...]

Sale of th is book without a front cover may be unauthorized. If this book is coverless, it may have been reported to the publisher as "unsold or destroyed" and neither the author nor the publisher may have re- ceived payment for it. Halo: First Strike is a work of fiction. Names, places, and inci dents either are a product of the author&[...]

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and fore most, I would like to thank th e personnel at Centra l Command: Syne Mitchell and the newest officer on our team, Kai Nylund. The Intel Office rs at Microsoft's Fra nchise Development Gr oup: Doug Zartman, Nancy Figatner, and Edward Ventura, and most notably Eric S. Trautmann (Special Ops field agent). The people[...]

SECTION REACH[...]

CHAPTER O NE 0622 hours, August 30,2552 (Milita ry Calendar) U N S C Vessel Pillar of Autumn, Epsilon Eridani system near Reach S tation G amma. SPARTAN -104, Fred eric, twir led a com bat knife , his fingers nimble despite the bulky MJOLNIR co mbat armor that encased his body. The blade traced a co mplicated series of graceful arcs in the air. Th[...]

ERIC NYLUND 3 Master Chief SPARTAN-117— John—m arched to the ne arest COM panel as Capta in Keyes's face filled the scree n. Fred sensed a sli ght movem ent to his right—a subt le hand sig- nal from Kelly. He opened a private COM freq to his tea mmate. "Looks like we're in for more surprises," she said. "Roger that,&q[...]

4 HALO: FIRST STRIKE with danger at every tu rn—unknow n enem y deployment, no gravity, useless intel, no dirt beneath his feet. There w as no qu estion, tho ugh: The space op was the toughest duty, so Fred intended to volunteer for i t. Captain Keyes conside red John's suggestio n. "No, Maste r Chief . It's too ri sky—w e'v[...]

ERIC NY LUND 5 prep in five minutes. Joshua: Liaise with Cortana and get me current intel o n the drop are a—I don't care i f it's just w eather satellite imagery, but I want pictures, and I want them ninety seconds ago." Red Team ju mped into action. The pre-missi on jitters wer e gone, replace d with a col d calm. There was a j o[...]

6 HALO : FI RS T STRI KE "Knife Two-Six to Bra vo-One," a ters e, female voice crac kled across the COM channel. "Keep your pants on. Busi ness is good today." Too good. No sooner had the fig hters taken esco rt position over his drops hip than the appr oaching Cove nant fighte rs opened up with a barrage of plasma fire. Three o[...]

ERIC NYLUND The Pelican's aft section had been st ripped of the padded crash seats that u sually lin ed the section's port and starboard sides. The life-support g enerators on the fire wall between pas- senger and pil ot's compart ment had also bee n discarded to make room. Under other circumstances, such modification s would have le[...]

8 HAL O: F IRST STRI KE Their job this ti me was to get groundside a nd protect the gen- erators that powered the orbit ing Magnetic Accelerator Cannon platforms. The fleet was getting ripped to shreds in space. Th e massive MAC guns were the only thing keeping the Covenant from overrunning their lin es and taking Reach. Fred knew that if anything [...]

ERIC NY LUND 9 The Pelican pitched forward, and her engines blaste d in full overload. The dropship's stabilizers tore a way, and the craft rolled out of control. The Spartans grabbed on to cross beams as thei r gear was flung about ins ide the ship. "It's going to be a h elluva ho t drop, Spartans ," their pilot hissed over the[...]

10 HALO: FIRST STRIKE a command; the port engi ne shuddered, and the ship's rolling slowed an d ceased . "Can we land?" Fred asked. Joshua didn't hesitate to give the bad new s. "Negative. The computer has no solut ion for our inbound vecto r." He tapped rapidly on the keyboard. "I'll buy as much time as I ca[...]

ERIC NY LUND 11 armored glove on the wall and tried to will the craf t to hold to- gether a little longer. It didn't wor k. The port engine ex ploded, and the Pelica n tum- bled out of contr ol. Kelly and the S partans near the a ft drop hatch dr opped out. No mo r e ti me . "Jump," Fred shouted. "Spartans: Go, go, go!" The[...]

CHAPTER TWO 0631 hours, August 30,2552 (Military Calen dar)Epsilon Eridani syst em, unknown ae ria l position, pla net Re ach. Fred saw the s ky and eart h flashing in r apid succ ession befo re his face plate. Decade s of tr aining t ook o ver. Thi s was just lik e a parasail drop ... except this time t here was no chute. He forced his arms and l[...]

ERIC NY LU ND 13 lives. This was the sam e forest where CPO M endez had left them when they were children. With only pi eces of a map and no food, water, or weapons, they had captured a guarded Pelican and re- turned to HQ. That was the mission where John, now the Maste r Chief, had earned command of th e group, the mission that had fo rged th em i[...]

14 HALO: FIRST STRIKE his knees, and tucked into a ba ll. He overrode the hydrostati c sys- tem and overpressurized the gel surrounding his bo dy. A thou- sand tiny kniv es stabbed him—pa in unlike any he'd exp erienced since the SPARTA N-II prog ram had s urgical ly altere d him. The MJOLNIR arm or's shields flared as h e broke through[...]

ERIC NYLUND 15 Fred snorted in disgust. Kelly thought he'd been thinking on his feet—but all he'd done was land on hi s ass. He didn't want to talk a bout it —not no w. "An y other good n ews?" he said . "Plenty," she replied. "Our gear—munitions boxes, bags of extra weapons—they're scattered acr[...]

16 HALO: FI RST STRI KE "One he re, too," Red-F ifteen repor ted. "Neut raliz ed." There had to be more. Fred knew the Covenan t never traveled in small num bers. Worse, if the Covenant were deploying troo ps in any signifi- cant numbers, that meant t he holding action in orbit had turned ugly . . . so it was only a matter of ti[...]

ERIC NYLUND 17 Fred nodded, and clipped the other captured weapon to his harness. "Beats the hell out of throwing rocks ," he replied. "Affirm ative, Chief ," she said with a nod. "But ju st barely ." "Red-One," Joshua's voice c alled over the SQUADCO M. "I'm a half-klick a head of you. You nee[...]

18 HALO: FIRST STRIKE Fred sent a narrow-beam transmission on UNSC glob al fre- quency. "Marine patrol , this is Spartan Red Team. We are ap- proaching your position fro m your six o'clock. Acknowledge." The Marines turned about and squinted in Fred's dir ection, and brought their a ssault rifles to bear. There was static on the[...]

CHA PTER THRE E 0649 hours, August 30,2552 (Military Calendar) Epsilon Eridani system, Orbita l Defense Gene rator Facility A-3 31, plan et Reach. Fred looked over the battlefield fro m the top of the southern bunker, his tem porary comm and post. The st ructure had bee n hastily erected, and som e of the fast-drying in stacrete hadn't fully[...]

20 HALO: FIRST STRIKE Scorpion tanks f or almost an hour. Grunts had charged across the minefield a nd cleared a path fo r the Jackals and El ites. Lieutenant Buckman, the Marines' CO, h ad been ordered to send the bulk o f his m en into the forest in an attempt to fl ank the enemy. He had called in air support, too. He got it. Reach HighCom m[...]

ERIC NYLU ND 21 "Roger that," Will said with a disapp ointed sigh. "Red-Three?" Fred asked. "Report." There was a mom ent's hesitatio n. Joshua whisp ered: "Not goo d here, Red-One. I'm posted o n the ridge between our valle y and the next. The Covenant has a massive LZ set up. There's an enemy ship[...]

22 HALO: FIRST STRIKE "Understood," Fred said. "Keep me—" "Wait. Incom ing transm ission to Ch arlie Com pany from Reach HighCom." HighCom? Fred thou ght headquarters on Reach ha d been overrun. "Verification codes?" "They ch eck out ," Kelly re plied. "Patch it through." "Charlie C[...]

ERIC NYLUND 23 He controlled the shaking and keyed the C OM. "Acknowl- edged, sir. Is ai r support availabl e?" "Negative. Covenant craft took out our fighter and bomber cover in the firs t wave." "Very well, sir. We' ll get you out." "Step on it, Chief." T he COM snapped off. Fred wondered if Admiral Wh[...]

24 HALO: FIRST ST RIKE ravine like the back s of thei r hands. It was n't marked on any map, but it was where they'd trained for months wit h Dr. Halsey. Beneath the mountain were caverns that the Office of Naval In- telligence h ad converted into a top-sec ret facility. It wa s fortified and hardened again st radiation, an d could probab[...]

ERIC NYL UND 25 Fred grabbed a launcher, a pair of rockets, and a roll of tape from the 'Hog. "We'll b e needing these when we hit the Cove- nant on the other side of the ridge," he explained. "Each of you secure a launcher and some ammo in a Banshee." Joshua and Kelly sto pped what they were doi ng and turned to face [...]

CHAPTER FOUR 0711 hours, August 30,2552 (Military C alendar)Epsilon Eridani system, L ongho rn Va lley , planet Rea ch . The al arm hoot ed, and Zawaz s prang to his f eet with a startl ed yelp. The squat alien, a Grunt clad in burni shed orange armor, fumbled and dropped his motion scanner. He kee ned in fear and retrieved the devi ce with a trem[...]

ERIC NYLUND 27 much altitude as the Banshee could manage—about th ree hun- dred meters. As he cleared the top, what he saw made him ease off the throttle. The valley was ten kilo meters across and sloped before h im, thick with Douglas firs that thinned and gave way to trampled fields and the Big Horn River b eyond. Cam ped in the fields were tho[...]

28 HALO: FIRST STRIKE take an alternate flight path: straight down the middle, and straight over the Covenant ho rde. They'd only need one run to do this. They'd p robably only get one run. He activate d a COM frequency . "Go." Kelly hit the acceleratio n and glided toward the cruiser. Fred fell in behind her. He armed the fu el[...]

ERIC NYLUND 29 sphere of ene rgy arced into the base of the tow er. It began a grad- ual tilt, then collapsed. Kelly hadn't fired. Fred glanced h er way and saw that sh e now stood in a low crouch atop her racing Bans hee. She had one foot under the duct tape that had secured the nuke and now held the bomb in her hand, cocking it back to throw[...]

30 HALO: FIR ST STRIKE Fred wrench ed the Ba nshee's cont rols and a rced the craft under the edg e of the ship; Kelly was right behind him. The light vanished, and they emerged on the far side of the Covenant vessel. Behind them, distorted through th e gravity lift, Fred saw Covenant troops firing their weap ons into the sky. He heard ten tho[...]

ERIC NYLUND 31 It was a sea of flam e. Hundreds of fires dotted the cracked, glassy ground. Where the Big Horn River had snaked along, there was now only a long stea ming furrow. There was no trace of the cruiser or the Covenant troops that had filled the valley moments ago. All that rem ained was a field of smoldering, twisted bone and meta l. At [...]

32 HALO: FIRST STRIKE incomprehe nsible. Then th ere was only stat ic, and then th e COM went dead. The cruisers fired salvos of plasma th at burned the sky. Dis- tant explosions thump ed, and Fred strained to see if there was any return fire—any sign t hat his Spartans were fighting or re- treating. Their only hope was movement; the enemy firepo[...]

SECTION I THRESHOLD[...]

CHAPTER FIVE 1637 hours, September 22 ,2552 (Military Calendar) A b o a rd Longswor d fighter, unc harted system , Halo debris field. Th re e weeks late r. The Maste r Chief settled into t he pilot's seat of the Longswo rd attack craf t. He didn 't fit. Th e contou red seat had been en gi- neered to m ate with a standard-issue Navy flig[...]

ERIC NYLUND 35 "Scan it again," the Master Chief told Cortana. "Already c ompleted, " her disembo died voice replied. "There's noth ing out there. I tol d you: just dust a nd echoes." The Master Chief 's hand curled into a fist, and f or a moment he felt the urge to slam it into som ething. He relaxed, surpri[...]

36 HALO: FIRST ST RIKE "That's highly un—" Cortana froze for a split second. The stati c around h er vanishe d, and she stared off into spac e. "Interesti ng." "What?" Cortana looke d distracted , then seem ed to snap ou t of it. "New data. That signal echo's getting strong er." "Meaning?&quo[...]

ERIC NYL UND 37 on universal joints—enough firepower to gut any ship in the UNSC fleet. "Picki ng up en crypted t ransm issions f rom new contac t," Co r- tana whispered. "Desc rambling... lot s of chatter... order s be ing given to the cruiser s. It appears to be directing the Covenant fleet operat ions in the system." "[...]

38 HALO: FIRST STRI KE "Course plotted," Cortana said. "Thrusters engaged." There was a slight acceleration. "ETA twenty minutes, Chief. But given the Covenant cruis- ers' current search patte rn, I estim ate they wi ll encounte r the pod infive minutes." "We need to move faster, " the Chief tol d her, &[...]

ERIC NYLUND 39 saw that what he thought was a single pod was in fact three of them, affix ed side by side . Three possible survivors out of the Pillar of Autumn's total complement of hundreds. He wished t here were m ore. He wis hed Captain Keyes wer e here. In the Chief's opinion Keyes had been the most brilliant spatial tacti cian he ha[...]

40 HALO: FIR ST STRIK E Cortana dropped the aft hatch, and the inside of the ship ex- ploded out; the Chief slammed in to the door of the locker, dentin g the centimeter-thick Titaniu m-A. He climbed out and Cortana overlaid a blue arrow-shaped NAV point on his heads- up display, i ndicatin g the locati on of the drifting cryopods. The Chief jumped[...]

ERIC NY LUND 41 the muscles in his b raced legs so hi s motions didn't send t hem into a tum ble in the zero gravity. The Longsword was a sitting duck for those Cove nant cruisers. Cortana couldn't fi re the engin es until h e got on board. Eve n if he and the pods survived the thruster wash, any evasive maneuver Cortana made would snap h[...]

42 HALO: FIR S T STR IK E I want them to target their plasma turrets just before they fire. They have to drop a section of their shields for a fraction of a second." "Working," Cortana replied. "Without precise data, however , I'll have to base my calculat ions on several assum ptions." A string of math ematics ap pear[...]

ERIC NYLUND 43 ships might evade and dodge through the debris field for a few minutes, but soon their fuel woul d be exhausted, and the Co ve- nant would move in for the kill. And whe re could they really run to, anywa y? Neither ship had Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Eng ines, so they were stuck in this system and the Covenant knew it. They could af fo[...]

44 HALO: FIRST ST RIKE the ship. "Looks like your 'plan' has gotten their atten tion. I'm reading all six Covenant cruis ers moving to overtake u s at flank speed. " "And the Pelican?" "Still there," Cortana reported. "Taking heavy fire. But on tr a- jectory to the NAV point. .. moving slower than u[...]

ERIC NYLUND 45 The flagship's turrets tu rned to bear on the Lon gsword and Pelican. They glowed li ke angry eyes in the dark. "Three hundred kilometers." Light spa rkled along the length of the Covenant craft as it pre- pared to fire; dull red plasma gathered; three torpe does extruded and raced toward t hem. "Evasiv—" t[...]

46 HALO: FIR S T STR IK E A han d reach ed up f rom th e other side. John p ulled the person through. The shock only lasted a moment. John's reflexes k icked in— he g rabbed a h andful of the m an's unif orm, kic ked the hatch shut, and propelled both of them ag ainst the hull. W ith a ligh tni ng- quick motion , he drew th e newcom er&[...]

CHAPTER S IX 1710 hours, September 22,2552 (Milit ary Calendar) A b o ar d Longsword fighter, uncharted system, Halo debris field. The Mast er Chief held on to the ship's frame wi th one h and so he would n't float aw ay in zero gee . With the o ther hand he pressed the pistol deeper into Johnson's forehead. The Sergeant' s sm[...]

48 HALO: FIRST STRIKE likely." She paused for two heartbea ts, and then added, "Accord- ing to the read ings from the Sergeant's biom onitors, his sto ry checks out. I can't be one h undred percent positiv e until he's been cleared in a m edical suite, but preliminary findings indi- cate that he is clean of any Flood parasi[...]

ERIC NYLUND 49 the bone, and during th e action on Halo had been decidedly negative about the SPARTAN-I Is in general... and the Chie f in particular. Another man gri pped the e dge of th e hatch and pulled him self up. He had a plasma pistol strapped to his side and wore a crisp black unifor m. His red hair was neatly slicked back, and his eyes to[...]

50 HALO: FIRST STRIKE "So what's the story?" Locklear dema nded. "We got some- thing to shoot here? " "At ease, Marine," the Sergeant growled. "Use that stuffing between your ears for something besides keeping your helmet on. Notice we're not floating? Feel those gee forces? This ship is in a slingshot o[...]

ERIC NYLUND 51 "So what's the plan?" Locklear asked. "Slingshot orbit—then what? W e just go ing to t alk all d ay, Chief ?" "No," the Chief replied. He glanced at Polaski and the Sergean t. He could count on her, and though he w as suspiciou s of exactl y how Serg eant John - son had avoided falling to the Floo[...]

52 HALO: FIRST STRIKE Haverson frowned. "Ch ief, if we approach that shi p we'll be blown out of t he sky before we can even think ab out engaging them." "Normally, ye s," the Chief replied. "But we' re going t o rig the Pelican as a fi reship—w e load it wit h Moray m ines and send it out ahead of us. We'l[...]

ERIC NYLUND 53 Johnson, and f inally Haverson. "Unless a nyone has a bett er plan?" They were silent. "Anyth ing to add , Cortan a?" he as ked. "Our exit o rbit burn leav es us lo w on fuel and travelin g at high velocity on an int ercept cou rse with the fl agship. There are ove r- lapping fields of enemy fire on our appro[...]

54 HALO: FIRST STRIKE "Orbital exit burn in ten seconds," Polaski s aid. "Dog the rest o f that," t he Chief told Locklear. "And brace yourse lf." Locklear secur ed the collectio n of weapons and ord nance in a duffel bag, looped it around his neck, and then f ound a hand- hold. Sergeant Johnson leaned against the cry [...]

ERIC NYLUND 55 The Chief said nothing, but he agreed. Despite the ODST's foul disposition, he shared his uneas iness with space combat. "Amen," Sergeant Johnson added. "Now shut up and let the lady drive." He removed a mission record unit from his pocket and inserted a chip. The screen blank ed; a rhythmic cacophony blasted[...]

56 HALO: FIRST STRIKE Their mom entum is carrying them within range. Trackin g . .. locked on . . . maneuvering." Tiny puffs of fire overlapped the teardrop-shaped Seraph fighters as they exploded. Haverson laughed. "Bull's-eye!" "Forward weapons s ystems and shields are disabled," Co r- tana said. "The doors are [...]

ERIC NYLUND 57 announced. "Exter nal atmosphere sta bilizing. Please feel free to get up and move ar ound the cabin." Locklear scrambled to his feet. "Yeah!" he whooped. The young Helljumper yanked his MA5B's charging lever and ra cked a round into the cham ber. "Let's rock!" "Good wo rk, people," t[...]

CHAPTER SEVEN 1750 hours, September 22,2552 (Military Calendar) A b o ar d unidentified Covenant flagship, un charted system, Hal o deb r is field. Plasma bolts impacted on t he Longsword's hull and splashed across the windshield. The packets of glowing energy sizzl ed across the cockpit and etche d cloudy, molten trails into the glas s. A l[...]

ERIC NYLUND 59 "Good." He tu rned to the others. "We're going in . I'll lead . Locklear, you're up with me. Sergeant, you've got the rear." "You'll need to take m e, too," Cortana said. "I've pulled a schematic of this ship to n avigate, but the engineering controls have been manually[...]

60 HALO: FIRST STRIK E thousand Covenant, mostly Engineers. There's a light company of Grunts, and only a hundred Elites." "Only a hundred?" the Chief muttered. He waved his tea m forward towar d a heavy door at th e back of the launch bay. The air was full of smoke and fire-suppressing mist, which reduced visibility t o a dozen[...]

ERIC NYLUND 61 Polaski moved forwar d and crouched by the panel in the mid- dle of the door. She tu rned her cap a round and leaned clo ser, then lo oked b ack to the Chief and gave him a thumbs -up. He raised his rifle and nodded, giving her t he go-ahead to breach th e door. She reached f or the cont rols. Before she touched t hem, though , the d[...]

62 HALO: FIRST STRIKE "Now that's what I'm talk in' about," Johnson c rowed. "An honest-to-God turkey shoot." Ten meters down the passage a dozen more Elites rounded a corner. "Uh-oh," Locklear muttered. "Sergeant," the Chief barked. "Door control!" John moved to Polaski's positi[...]

ERIC NYLUND 63 The Chief grunted an acknowledgment as he eased his way through. There was a scraping sou nd and a flash of sparks as his energy sh ield brush ed the wall. I t was too tight a fit. He powered down the shields, which left him just enough room to squeeze through. Locklear followed behin d him, then Polaski, the Sergeant, and finally Ha[...]

64 HALO: FIRST STRIKE The Chief felt her leav e his mind, felt the hea t rush back into his head, pulsing with the rhythm of his heart... and once again, he was alone in the ar mor. He slotted Cortana's chip into the Covena nt data port. Locklear's face rippled with disgust, and he whispered, "You couldn't pay me to stick any pa[...]

ERIC NYLUND 65 position and sto red it in a stolen terti ary system buffer. She multitasked a portion of herself and continued to analyze the ship's structure and subsyste ms. "Proceed thirty meters down this passage and turn left." Cortana hijacked the external ship cam eras and detected the six Covenant cruisers. They had stalled t[...]

66 HALO: FIRST STRIKE But to operate as if nothing were different would be even more foolish. She sent a blocking coun tersignal alon g the connection wher e this "other" was trying to contact her. The portion of her consciousness examining the ship's struc- ture discovere d that the bridge had another access po int. Stupid. She sho [...]

ERIC NYLUND 67 fight. They didn't ask for help... not for themselves. Then again, this ship, a lthough arm ed for wa r, didn't ap pear to be staff ed for combat. It carried only a few hundred Elites and an army of Engineers. As Cortana ponder ed this, she contin ued to gene rate a counter-si g na l to m at c h to t h e pr o b e s e nt b y[...]

68 HALO: FIRST ST RIKE mary air systems. She then tasked the process or pumps to ser- vice the rest of the ship and act ivated them—in revers e. Warni ngs fla shed t hrough out t he Coven ant s yste m as the pressure suddenly dropped in 87 percent of the ship's passages. She sq uelched them. The other presence in the syste m tried to shut th[...]

ERIC NYLUND 69 "Chief," Cortana said. "We may have a prob—" "Hold transmission, Cortana," t he Chief interrupted. "We're outside th e comm and center. Can you t ell how man y are insi de?" "Negative. They have disabled the bridge sen sors," she replied. "You heard Cortana," the Chie[...]

70 HALO: FIRST STRIKE A howl echoed from the other side, and a curl of gray smoke drifted through the crack. The Chief slung his rifle, grabbed the doors, flexed, pulled— and this time the h eavy m etal moved . A flash of plasma fire washed over his shields, blinding him. He ignored it, closed hi s eyes, and continued to force h is way through th[...]

ERIC NY LUND 71 the odd calli graphy of the Covenant. They also showed the space surrounding them , and the five rem aining Covenant crui sers closing in. The Chi ef caught a motio n in hi s periphe ral vision : An Elite in jet-black armor m aterialized from the wall display, its li gh t- bending camouflage dissolving. I t strode toward the Chief, [...]

CHAPTER EIGHT 1802 hours, September 22,2 552 (Military C alendar) A b o a rd unidentified Covenant flags hip, uncha rted system, Halo debr is field. The Master Chief ducked as the hissi ng energy blade slashed at him. He dived toward the Elite and sla mmed the butt of his rifle into the alien's midsection. The Elite doubled over, and the Chi[...]

ERIC NYLUND 73 ODSTs in half and gouge gaping wounds in Titanium-A armor plating. Worse, this Elite was tough, cunning, well trained—and i t hadn't spent days fighting nonstop on Halo. The Chief felt every wound, pulled musc le, and strained tendon in his body. Haverson and Polaski moved onto the bridge, their pistols drawn, but neither of t[...]

74 HALO: FIRST STRIKE ergy bolt melted their system s. Before the displays went dark, however, the Master Chief saw one of the Covenant cr uisers open fire. A lance of plasm a rushed through space toward th e flags hip. The Chief and the Elite struggled, rising to t heir feet. The Ch ief batted the plasma pistol aside, and it clattere d across the [...]

ERIC NYLUND 75 slippery with blood. Finally h e twisted the Elite to the right and launched a powerfu l open-han ded strike i nto the al ien's woun ded chest. The Elite howled in pain and flew back, th rough the open hatch of an escape p od. "Get off th is ship," the Chief said. He hit a control stud and the hatch slammed shut. There[...]

76 HALO: FIRST ST RIKE The ship spun to port. On the displays th at still funct ioned, four more Covenant cruisers tracked them—and fired. The flagship accelerated, but the plas ma torpedoes arced and followed them. "No good," Cortana said. "I ca n't overcome our inertia in this tub. They're going to hit us . . . unless I[...]

ERIC NYLUND 77 The Maste r Chief lo oked arou nd the brid ge. The re had to be a way. There was al ways a way— He leaned over the edge of the central platf orm and grabbed one of the Covena nt Engineers that c owered below. He dra gged it up by its float-s ack. The creature s quirmed and squeal ed. "Maybe we don't have the expertise,&qu[...]

78 HALO: FIR S T STR IK E of the ship, assuming that there had onl y been one point of sabo - tage. It was a mistake she would never have made if she'd been operating at full capacity . She checked ev ery system of the flagship. She then lock ed them out with her own security measures. Cortana turned off her feelings of anger and gui lt and co[...]

ERIC NYLU ND 79 She checked on the Chi ef. His signal was still on board, and his bi omonito r indicat ed that he w as stil l alive. "Chief, are you there yet? I'm down to one last option." There was a static-filled pause over the COM, and then the Master Chief whis pered, "Almost. " "Be caref ul. Your arm or is breach[...]

80 HALO: FIRST STRIKE Cortana experienced a m oment of t riumph—the n squelche d it. There was a new pr oblem: The concu ssion fro m that blast had altered their fligh t path. The heat and overpressure wav e had thinned the atmosphere ... ju st enough to cau se the flagship t o drop seven hundred meters. Wisps of ice crystals washed over the prow[...]

ERIC NYLUND 81 here, it would have mainta ined better discipline an d silenced the Grunts. Still, the Master Chief h esitated. His shields were gone, h is armor breached. He had been fi ghting almost nonstop for what felt like years. He w as forced to admit th at he was at the lim its of his endurance. A good soldier always assessed the tactica l s[...]

82 HALO: FIRST STRI KE The trap was set; all he needed now was bait. He set a plasma grenade on the far wal l of the shaft and trig- ger ed it . He pushed into the corridor, f ast. Four seconds to go . The gravity, still active in this portion of the ship, pulled him to the deck. He melted into th e shadows and sprinted along the wall two meters fa[...]

ERIC N YLUND 83 energy coil dim. The Master Chief grabbed it—ducked as an- other plasm a bolt singed over h is head . He with drew to t he cover of the bracing supp ort. He tried to activate th e weapon. No luck. It was d ead. The Engineer snak ed a tentacle around the weapon an d tugged it away from John's grasp. It cracke d the case and pe[...]

CHAPTER NINE 1827 hours, September 22,2 552 (Military Cal endar) A b oa r d unidentified Covenant flagship, uncharted system, Ha lo d e br is field. The flagship plunged th rough Threshold' s churning atmo - sphere. Cortan a could not hold the sh ip's attitude. It wobbled and blasted a fi ery scar throug h the clouds, sl owly rolling to[...]

ERIC N YLUND 85 She recompute d the numbers, thrust and velo city and gravit a- tional attract ions. Even if she overload ed the reactors to cri ti cal -meltdown levels, they were still stuck in an ever-descending spiral . The num bers d idn't li e. The Master Chief 's Engineer mu st have repaired the p ower coupling, because t he Slipspa[...]

86 HALO: FIR S T STR IKE such accu racy. They co uld literall y plot a course with an error no large r than an atom 's di ameter. "Status, Cortana?" the Master Chief asked. "Stand b y," she s aid, anno yed at the di straction . At this resolut ion Cortana cou ld discern every ripple in space caused by T hreshold's gr a[...]

ERIC NYL UND 87 Had it seen what she had done? Had it understood what she' d just accomplished? And if so, why decl are it a "heresy"? True, manipu lating eig hty-eight stochastic var iables in ele ven -dim ensional space-time was not child's play... but it wa s possible th at the oth er A I wo uld be abl e to fo llow he r cal c[...]

88 HALO: FIRST STRIK E from Halo, Threshold, and that Covenant fleet. If this tin can holds together a bit longer, I want to put some distance betwee n us and th em." The Chief replied, "Good work, Cortana. Very good." He moved toward the elevator. "No w we have a hard decision to make." He paused and turned back toward the[...]

ERIC NYLUND 89 The Enginee r passed a tent acle over the co ntrols. They f lashed blue, then dimmed. "It locks now ," Polaski told t hem. "Ugly he re knows his stuf f." Three ultrasonic whistles filled the air. The Covenant Engi- neer who had just repaired the bridge door sn apped to attenti on, and its eyes peered intently forw[...]

90 HALO: FIRST STRIKE impacted on the flagsh ip's shields. "Man," he whisper ed. "I wish our boats had weapons like th ose." "We might soon have exactly t hat, Marine," Lieutenant Hav er- son said. He winced and stood, then moved to a screen that showed th e s to r ms i n t h e u p p er a t mo s ph e r e o f Th r [...]

ERIC NYLUND 91 Haverson shrugged. "I see no reason to keep this information classif ied at this point . Tell him , Chief." The Master Chief didn't like how Haverson "acced ed" to his tactical command yet r eadily ordered hi m to reveal highly clas- sified material. "Cortana," the Chief said. "Is th e bridge s[...]

92 HALO: FIR ST STRIK E core Marine lik e Johnson, could endu re. And as m uch as he didn't want to admit it, his original orders, given only a week ago, felt as if they'd been issued a lifetime in the past. Even John felt the temptation to stop and regroup before continuing. "What's on this ship," Haverson said , "can[...]

ERIC NYLUND 93 given when the UNSC had a fleet, and whe n Reach was still an intact military presence. All that has change d." The Master Chief couldn't disagree with what she was say- ing ... but t here was som ething else in her voice. And for the first tim e, John th ought th at Cortan a might be hiding something from him. "We hav[...]

94 HALO: FIR S T STR IK E Protocol. Furthermore, we are not allowed an indirect route, ei- ther. Subsection Se ven of the Cole Pr otocol states th at no Cove- nant craft m ay be taken to h um an-controlled space without an exhaustive search for tracking sy stems that could lead the enem y to our bases." "Subsection Seven?" Haverson s[...]

ERIC NYL UND 95 "Acknowledged, Lieutenant," Cortana replied. "Be advised that this ship trave rses Slipspace much faster than our U NSC counterparts. ETA to Reach in thirteen hours." The Master Chief sighed and relaxed a litt le. There was an- other reason for choo sing Reach, one h e didn't reveal to the Lieutenant. He kne[...]

CHAPTER TEN 1852 hours , September 22,2 552 (Milit ary Calenda r) C a p tu r e d Covenant flagshi p, in Slipspace, location unknown. After the Chief had left to investi gate the cryopod, Haverson made certain that the bridge doors loc ked. He turned and walke d over to the Covenant Engineer who'd repaired the Master Chief's armor. "[...]

ERIC NYLUND 97 He wasn't mad at Cortana; he was m ad at him self—furious be- cause of the ugly necessity of his act. "The Covenant are i mitative—not innovati ve," he said. "The Engineer you ordered to repair the Chief's ar mor just got a firs t- hand look at our shield technology, a techn ology we stole from the Covena[...]

CHAPTER EL EVEN 0930 hours, September 4,2552 (Military Calendar) UNSC High Command (High Com) Facility Bravo-6, Syd ne y, Aus tr al ia, E ar th. Two and a h alf weeks ago. Lieutenant Wagner walked through m etal- and explos ive- detector gates and into the atriu m entrance of the large, vague ly conical structur e. Official ly desig nated UNSC Hi[...]

ERIC NYLUND 99 weren't in any position to m ake trouble. The Covenant didn't take prisoners. "You're expected today, Lieuten ant," the receptionist sai d. She was a young Chief Petty Officer and looked like she didn't have a care, or a cl ue. But her eyes gave her away. She knew something. Maybe no t what , but she h a[...]

100 HALO: FIRST STRIKE She laughed, and it sounded like fine bone china cl inking to- gether. "Yo u may proce ed, Lieutena nt," she told him. The doors parted and reveal ed a corridor lined w ith walnut panels and paintings o f Washington Crossi ng the Delaware, Ad- miral Cole's Last Stand, various ali en landscapes, and space battle[...]

ERIC NYLU ND 101 banged a fist onto the table. "Why the hell didn't we know about this? Who in ONI let this one slip by? " Ackerso n leaned back. "N o one is to blame, Gen eral—exc ept the Covenant, ob viously. I' m more concerned wi th our response to this incursion. Our fleet was deci mated." Ackerson's reput [...]

102 HALO : FI RS T ST RI KE justif ied b ecause o f th e value of the intel . Still, if the y wanted to crucify hi m, all they had t o do was che ck the time lo gged on his Prowler's engines and do the math. Hood waved his hand. "That's hardly the issu e." "I think it i s," Ackerson snapped. "Reach is gone. There&[...]

ERIC NYLUND 103 "No need," Ackers on muttered. He ret urned to his seat. Strauss sighed. "At least we have y our special weapons pr o- grams, Acke rson. Halse y's SPARTAN -IIs were such a great sue—" Ackerson shot the General a look that coul d have blasted through battle pla te. The General halted midsentence a nd snappe[...]

104 HALO : FI RS T STRI KE significant number of Spartans went g roundside to defen d Reach's orbital guns." "Then they're dead," Ackerson said. "Halsey's freaks have fi- nally lost their luster of invin cibility." Admiral Hood set his jaw. "Doctor Halsey," he said slowly and with delib erate contro[...]

ERIC NYLUND 105 "Just spit it out," General Strauss said. Wagner swallowed and resisted the urge to meet Ackerson's eyes. "When the Covenant de stroys a planet , they typic ally move their large warshi ps closer and blanket the wor ld with a series of crisscrossi ng orbits to ensure that ever y square milli meter of the surface [...]

106 HALO: FIRST STRIKE confirm what we ha ve already seen a doze n times before: Reac h is gone." He inched closer to Wagner. "Everything on it is blasted to bits, burned, glass ed over, an d vaporized. Everyon e on Reach is dead." He jabbed a finger into Wa gner's chest for emphasis. "Dead. Dead. Dead."[...]

SECTION 2 DEFENSE OF CASTLE BASE[...]

CHAPTER TWELVE 0744 hours, August 30,2552 (Military Calendar)Epsilon Eridani syste m, Longhorn Vall ey , plane t Reac h. F iv e d ays ago. Steamy clouds parted like a drawn cur tain; a fireball one hun- dred meters across roar ed over Fred and Kelly's p osition. Fred traced the line of flames b ack through the sky and spotted the faint outli [...]

ERIC NYLUND 109 One tiny secondary fragment impaled Fred's Banshee and detonated. The por t canard of his flier deformed fr om the explo- sion, and the craft wobbled . "Down!" he shouted, but Kelly was already a dozen meters below him and plummeting to a distant dry riverbed. He fol- lowed, trail ing smoke. Fred confir med his positi[...]

110 HALO: FIRST STRIK E "Hard landing," Fred ordered. Kelly made an unh appy sound over the COM and snapped it off. They plummeted out of the sky , gliding with what little aer o- dynamic s and p ower rem ained in their B anshees . Fred no sed his craft over the steaming rocks of the d ry riverbed. He picked a path between boulders and ja[...]

ERIC NYLUND 111 The Hunter ree led as fire wa shed across its armor. It moved in slow, confused circles. Fred could see the bright orange smears of the Hunter's blood stainin g the rocks. Kelly landed on her feet next to Fred. She readied a captured plasm a gr enade and hurl ed it s trai ght to ward the second Hunter's huge gun. It lodged[...]

112 HALO: FIRST STRIKE There was a roar of static. "Whitcomb . . . too many. Got— you read?" "Gamma," Fred shouted. "The f allback is hot . Repeat hot! Acknowledge." There w as only st atic. "I hope they hear d," he told Kel ly. "Red-21 can tak e care of his team . Don't worry." She crep t fo[...]

ERIC NYLUNO 113 Hunter m ust hav e ma de up its mind —come to find them an d stomp them into the ground. "Move," Fred whis pered. They crossed the field, quickly and silently, and the Grunts never saw them. Fred an d Kelly reached the sm ooth-surfaced Wraith tanks. He gave Kell y a go signal, and she sprang into the nea rest op en hatch[...]

114 HALO: FIRST ST RIKE In unison the Spartans tur ned and fired at the far cor ner of the formation of tank s. Two blu e-white blobs of liquid sun spat from the Wraith s and det onated. Th ere was a dazz ling lig ht, an expa n- sion of superheated white fir e—and then there was g lass-smooth ground and the smoldering skeletons o f seven Wraith t[...]

ERIC NYLUND 115 Fred keyed his CO M. "Delta, if you're listenin g, we're com- ing in from south-southeast in a pair of captured Wraith tanks. You'll know which ones fro m the fireworks. Keep your heads down and don't shoot us." He keyed over to Kelly's personal COM. "Blaze a trail, Red-Tw o! Kill everyt hing [...]

116 HALO: FIRST STRIK E support, soone r or later the Co venant grou nd and air forc es would regr oup and destroy t hem. "Move!" he shouted over the CO M. "Break off contact and get to the caves !" Kelly gunned her tank and pushed through the wrecka ge. Fred let her g et ahead and p aused to target t he excavation equipment. He[...]

ERIC NYLUND 117 stood nex t to her. Fred was t hrilled t o see them alive—and even more th rilled to see Will holding a Jackh ammer rocket launcher. "Get below," Kelly said, and m otioned with her head t o the center of the crat er. "We'll cover yo u." She continued to fire u ntil she had depleted the chaingun's belt[...]

118 HALO: FIRST STRIKE "Where's the rest of the tea m? And the Marines fro m Charlie Company?" Fred asked. "They didn't make it," Will replied, his vo ice flat. "We were separate d on the way here." He shook his head. "No contact since then." Fred was quiet a moment. He listed those thre e as MIA on[...]

ERIC NYLUND 119 "It was a good idea," he told Kelly. "We'll recon the shaft. Maybe it's not completely collapsed. Wil l you—" A mechanism thunked and then hummed within the titanic door. There was a hiss as the sea ms parted, and the meter-thick door swung inwar d on perfectly bala nced, silent hing es. Bright li ght[...]

CHAPTER THIRTEEN 0810 hours, August 30,2552 (M ilitary C alendar)Epsilon Eridani system, ONI und erground fac ility, p lanet Reach. Dr. Halsey stud ied the five Spar tans in the hallway an d pushed her antique glasses farther up th e ridge of her nos e. Despite everything their prese nce here meant —Reach inv aded, their m is- sion to find the C[...]

ERIC NYLUND 121 She nodd ed. "Wil liam ." Will grunted. He ha d never like d his formal na me. She knew this annoyed th em all—how she was always able to tell who they wer e despite th e MJOLNIR ar mor. She had grown up with them , knew their every gest ure and their indi- vidual walks. She could have never called them by their number d[...]

122 HALO: FIRST STRIKE 5 They walked in silence for a moment pas t a display of cap- Z tured insurg ent flags t hat had been mou nted under gl ass along the curved concrete wall. Most were em blazoned wit h an array of gaudy ins ignia—family cres ts, bloodied dra gons, and scorc hed crossed swords. They continued past these remnants of a rebel- Z[...]

ERIC NYLUNO 123 tivity overhead. Interface wi th the Spartan s' biomonitors and patch the outp ut to the display on bay three." She strolled o ver to a table, and a bank of h olographic dis- plays hummed to life, f loating serenely. Graphs and f igures scrolled across them. "Give me a spotlight here, prepare a steriliz ation field, a[...]

124 HALO: F I RS T ST RI KE always kept her admiration for her Spartans to herself. The last thing s he wante d was to do make them fee l differ ent. Th ey got enough "special" treatment from everyone els e. Dr. Halsey pi cked up a clipboard, tapp ed a few item s onto its display , and handed it to Fred. "N ew weapo ns arrived for fi[...]

ERIC NYLUNO 125 MJOLNIR arm or. Blood a nd hydrostatic gel bubbled f rom Kelly's wounds. "I volunteered to be the fail-safe option," she told Kelly. "In the lower levels of these caver ns are enough high explosives to level the facility—in cas e we were ever overrun by the enemy. I'm here to make sure no one gets access t[...]

126 HALO: FIRST ST RIKE desk. She turned down the blinds that separated her office fro m the medical bay, but only halfway, so s he could keep an eye on Kelly. "Let's have it, Kalmiya." Kelly's medical history s crolled across a display. "Here," Kalmiya said, and highligh ted a surreptitious data re- quest at the end o[...]

ERIC NYLU ND 127 seam with her fo refinger along a sh ard of ruby to the nin ety -degree angle made by a stair-step-cut emerald. "This data clus ter here. Spike tha t and backfill wi th a neutraliz ing pulse." "Yes, Doctor." The holographic crystal shattered into a thousand glittering fragments and s wirled upward into a helix. [...]

128 HALO: FIRST STRIKE "These commands were invented, refined, and then disc arded and forgott en lon g before e ven the fi rst functio nal dum b AI went online," D r. Halsey told him . "I l earned them when I was f ifteen, working on my second doctoral thesis." "An antiquated input methodo logy for an obsolete human."[...]

ERIC NYLUND 129 Kalmiya would undoubtedly stress-analyze her vocal pat- terns, so she t old her t he truth. It was always a game of chess with smar t AIs—move and countermove . It was a con stant chal- lenge to earn and keep their respec t. That's why she preferred their company to humans—they were so deliciously complex. Yes, she told her[...]

130 HALO: FIRST STRIK E There was one last file in the S - III folde r. As Dr. Halsey tapped it open, Kalmiya said, "That is only a fragment. It had been era sed, but I managed to reconstr uct it from trace ionization in the me mory crystal." Dr. Hal sey exam ined its content s. There w as only C POMZ fol - lowed by a 512-charact er alpha[...]

ERIC NYLUND 131 This was more than a curiosity , now. Ackerson had been sit- ting on a tremendous secret—a very dangerous secret. "Just his styl e to play wit h fire and get us all bu rned." Additional files detailed the procurement of digging equip- ment, and a new set of blueprints and geological surveys. The new maps looked like a ne[...]

CHAPTER FOU RTEEN 0901 hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar)Epsilon Eridani system, ONI undergroun d f acility , planet Reac h. The s ecure st orage doors w hispered open , and overhea d fluo - rescent lights strobed on. Fred saw motion—but it was only his own reflection in the burnished-mirror finish of the chamber's stainless-steel w[...]

ERIC NYLUND 133 objective. He'd leave the long-range strategies to Generals and Admiral s. It was time to concent rate on wh at he did best. The walls hummed as thick metal bolts inside the lockers re- tracted, the sound of heavy oiled steel sliding over steel. With a fina l thump, the sound ceased. Kalmiya said, "Lockers open and safetie[...]

134 HALO: FIRST STRIKE Inside the f irst locker were satch el charges. Fred grabbe d three and looped them over his neck. "I think we can fin d a use for these." Will knelt next to the second footlocker. Within were plas tic boxes m arked MJOLNIR MARK V followed by a long list of serial numb ers. "Thi s must b e what Do ctor Halsey w[...]

ERIC NYLUND 135 magnum pisto ls, loaded them, an d then toss ed them t o Kelly, along with three ex tra clips. "I guess yo u get to test these." Kelly gazed a t the new weapon s and gave a low whistl e. Fred ope ned the bags with die n ew rifles a nd hande d them out to his team. "Wil l, you mule the extra parts and ammo." "[...]

136 HALO: FIRST STRIKE "I've lost targe ts on motion sensors, " Vinh whispered over t he COM. "They were close, too. " "Kelly, watch f or camouflaged Elites." "Affirmative," she said. She scanned the ro om, moved to a cabinet , and grab bed a tin can mark ed TALC . "Let's move," Fred orde [...]

ERIC NYLUND 137 the center of its elongated forehead. Pu rple blood bl ossomed across the wall. The remaining Elites returned f ire, and Kelly bounded for- ward, plasma flaring at the edge of her shield. She ducked into the side passa ge. The instant Kelly was out of the line of fire, Fred shouldered his rifle a nd squeeze d the trigger . A three-r[...]

138 HALO: FIRST STRIK E the darkness. T he three of them rip ped open the door s at the bot- tom of th e shaft . Will slid down next with Dr. Halsey holding on to his neck. Isaac followed. "There should be an ai r vent," Dr. Halsey wh ispered. " There." Kelly ri pped off the vent co ver and pe ered dow n. "It leads to the o[...]

CHAPTER FIFTEEN 0002 hour s, Septemb er 7,2552 (Military Cale ndar) ONI underground facility , planet Reach. Fred followed the trail of odd sym bols along the left-hand stone wall until they twisted into a spiral mosaic and vanished into ever-sm aller curls. The symbols were p art of the rock , com- posed of glittering mica inclusions in the gran[...]

140 HALO: FIRST STRI KE drew closer. Fred had set his audi o filters to screen out the noise so he could concentrate. Five days. It hadn't seem ed that long. They worked , they rested, they slept, and they waited. Dr. Hals ey had taught them word gam es like twenty questio ns and sim ple cipher, at w hich they all beca me extremel y proficient[...]

ERIC NYLUND 141 He did n't want to thi nk abou t the m—but he could n't hel p it. Maybe it was the darkness and the constant weight of the earth around him. What if they died here? Not died fighting, but just died here. In a way, that wouldn't be so bad. Fred had faced death a dozen times, brushed so close to it he had stared it in[...]

142 HALO: FIRST STRIKE Fred realized that he was holding his breath. He exhaled. This new corridor was twenty meters high—large enough for a titan to stride down its length. It vanished into the di stance, a straight line that gently sloped deeper into the earth . The floor was paved with as ymmetric blu e tiles pattern ed to look like waves lapp[...]

ERIC NYLUND 143 "Careful," Fred warned them . "Filter the light. Go to blac k-and-white i mage enhancement." He got fou r blue acknowled gment sign als, and then Fred switched to BWIM displa y. Funny that he hadn't thought of tha t for him self. Only when t he safet y of his team was at stake did h e think clea rly. Dr. Hal[...]

144 HALO : FI RS T STRI KE The corridor emptied ont o a landing th at overlooked t he largest room Fred had ever seen. Kelly ste pped onto t he landing, l ooked, and wa ved them forward. They stood on on e of a dozen tiered levels th at encircled the room; there was no railing. Fr ed leaned over the edge. It was at least one hundred meters to the f[...]

ERIC NYL UND 145 circles and bars and triangles. If t he symbols were a language, Fred stood upon a million words; he wished he'd been issued a dictio nary. Dr. Halsey pau sed to exam ine the tiles as well . "If only we ha d the tim e," she muttered , and then walked toward the ligh t gleam- ing i n the center of th e cham ber. The S[...]

146 HALO : FI R S T ST RI KE middle of the room. There was a pedestal made of the same gold material as the sy mbols in the corridor, and floatin g above it was a fist-sized crystal, tapered to a point at either end. It spun, and the facets along its centerline folded and shifted like the pieces of a puzzle. Dr. Halsey reached for it and then hesit[...]

ERIC N YLUNO 147 The stone ceiling melted and peeled back as if it were thin plastic hit with a blowtorch—an angled sha ft of dazzling white radiance appeared and blasted into t he tiled floor, five hundred meters from their position. Then it was gone and the room fell into darkness punctured only by a ray of faint sunlight that strea med in thro[...]

148 HALO : FIRS T S TRIKE onto Fred with one arm , and in her f ree hand she c lutched the crystal. Fred's motion tracker showed dozen of targets behind them , then hundreds. A pair of detonations thu mped, an overpressure wave blurred his mot ion tracker, subsided , and then half of those contacts were gone. Will and Fred ran into an arch ed [...]

SECTION 3 RESCU E[...]

CHAPTER SIXTEEN 0455 hours, September 23 ,2552 (Military Calendar) C a p t u r ed Covenant flagship, in Slipspace, location unknown. John brushed off the frost buildup that clouded the top half of the cryotube, and revealed t he green-armored fi gure sprawled behind the plastasteel shell. SPARTAN-058 . Linda. She'd been mortally wounded dur [...]

ERIC NYLUND 151 John wiped away the condensation that formed over her hel-m eted head. She was neither dead nor alive. She was in some twilight pla ce in between . That uncertainty was worse th an seeing her broken and bu rned body on Gamm a Station. It fel t like an open wound in John's chest. Linda's prognosis was good. The occupants of[...]

152 HALO: FIR ST STRIKE sient sensor c ontacts that Cortana kee ps picking up are anyt hing, they'll have to cut through to get to us. "Locklear's grabbing some sack time. He need ed it." The Sergeant shrugged. "He'l l be fine, though; ODSTs are tough as nails. Lieutenant Haverson sl ept some then got up, had a long co[...]

ERIC NYLUND 153 replied. "We'l l have a li mited offensive capacity whe n we get to Reach, if we ne ed it. I think." "And the rest of this ship is still funct ional?" "Yes," she rep lied. "I'm sorry, Chief ... these calculati ons a r e ... t r i c k y . " The COM w ent dead . Cortana's beh avio[...]

154 HALO: FIRST ST RIKE had the skill and luck to survive Hal o—qualities the Master Chief knew they'd need i f they were ever goin g to get back. "Exiting Slipspace," Cortana announced, "in three ... two .. . one." According to the Master Chief 's mission clock, it h ad only been eight minutes since Cortana had told[...]

ERIC NYLUND 155 The image res olved into pa tches of gree n, brown, and whi te— different from the angry black and l ivid orange that dominated the view of the rest of the planet. "Looks lik e they mi ssed a spot ," the S ergeant said . "The Covenant don't ' miss' anything when they glass a planet," the Maste r [...]

156 HALO : FIRS T STR IKE string of honorifics attache d to their responses there's supp osed to be someone of extrem e high rank commanding this ship, someone they referred to, amon g other things, as the 'Guardian of the Luminous Key.' " "Damn silly name," muttered Sergeant Johns on. "Can you tell what t hey&apo[...]

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 1002 hours, July 14,2523 (Military Calendar) Epsilon Eridani system, planet Reach , Spart an train ing exercise. T w e n t y - n i n e years ago. John crawled forward and peer ed over the edge of the rise. A lush, green valley stretched out below hi m. In the distance, the silvery reflections of the Big Horn River twisted through[...]

158 HALO: FIRST STRIKE was twenty met ers, and on im pact it could drop a rhino in its tracks. Twenty meters wouldn't cut it for this m ission, though, so Fhajad had m odified the 11 4mm APFSDS rounds fro m the sniper rifles, removed their deadly armo r-piercing tips, and re- placed them with narq-dart capsules . When Linda had test- fired the[...]

ERIC NYLUND 159 "Count on it," Linda replied and locked her dark green eyes with John's. He wondered if that 's what her eyes looked like wh en she sighted th rough the sniper scope . She never seemed to blink; she always won in ga mes of stare-down. "After we ge t the f lag," he contin ued, "Red Team will g et ou[...]

160 HALO: FIR ST STRIKE "Okay. Check your mirrors." They all pulled out th e shards of m irror they had taken from Tango Compan y's latrine las t night. They h ad taped the edges so they could be handled m ore easily, and taped their backs to re- duce the chance they'd shatter. The whol e operation depended on a fragile piece of[...]

ERIC NYLUND 161 at an angle poin ted at the undercarriage of the truck. His han d trembled but he forced himself to be ste ady. He had to. The gate guard approached the truck with a long pole and a small mirror attached at one e nd. He stuck the mirror under the truck and swep t it along one side. John matched the position of the mirror with h is, [...]

162 HALO: FIRST STRIKE John and Kelly patrolle d the wa rehouse , looking for cam eras, dogs, guards, anything they' d have to remove. It was clear. Sam returned with four canteens, which he had, according to their plan, filled with battery acid from the truck. There was a click from the side door and Fhajad gave them a thumbs-up. They gathere[...]

ERIC NYLUND 163 plywood. Once the acid had eaten throu gh the porous fibers, however, the thr ee grena des would have more than enough bang to turn that meter-squa re section into a m illion a irborne splinters—shot straight up into th e sleeping quarter s of Tango Company. Not lethal ... but gu aranteed to be one heck o f a distraction. John cra[...]

164 HALO: FIRST STRIKE holster, trying to free his weap on. John planted two narq-dar ts in his chest. The Corporal dropped. Two more guards roun ded the corner of the warehouse , shouted, and took aim at John. He was out in th e open, and there was no way his dart pist ol could hit those guards f rom this distance. One guard f ired. The round ping[...]

ERIC NY LUND 165 At 0545 they made it to the clearing designated as their ex- traction LZ. A t 0700 hour s they were supposed to m eet CPO Mendez. Of course, the Ch ief rarely let the m get off this easy— so John had planned for Blue Team to be here as well... only they would remain hidden. Linda and Fred would po st some- where in the tr eetops [...]

166 HALO: FIRST STRIKE "Should we just shoot hi m ?" another man said. "No," the one leadi ng them hissed. "Payback first." He stepped up to John and punched him in the sto mach. John doubl ed over from the blo w. The man hauled hi m up and patted him down. "We got ta find that damned flag or the Captain will have[...]

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN TIME:DATE RECOR D ANOMALY X Estimated 0510 hours, September 23,2552 (Military Calendar)Aboard cap tured Covenant flagship, Epsilon Eridani system. Cortana only partiall y listened to th e debate between the Master Chief and the others. The discussion was moot. She had projected the outcome as 100 percent certain that John would co[...]

168 HALO : FI RS T STRI KE nant craft pushed debris into a concentrated region of space in a high stationary orbit over Reach's northern p ole. Within that re- gion drifted th e wrecked h ulls of both Covenant and U NSC ships dest royed in t he battle f or Reach . Floating there wer e some of the UNSC's finest ships: the Basra, the Hannib[...]

ERIC NYLUND 169 them down, but there were transient contacts, vent shaft panels had been o pened and closed, and several Engineers had gone missing. She tracked their Covenant dropship as it cleared the launch bay, entered the upper at mosphere, and drifted t oward the sur- face. Polaski was a fine pilot... but she was only human and prone to illog[...]

170 HALO: FIRST STRIKE thin. Multi tasking too many jobs. This w as dangerous. She couldn't react fast enough if— "Infidel!" The Covenant word b lasted through her communicati ons rou- tines and left her stunned for three cycles—just enough time for her to lose control over the ship-to-ship COM software suite. The Covenant AI tra[...]

ERIC NYLU ND 171 and then wiped the or iginal. The Covenant AI was gone, its bits safely hacked apart and stored for future research. Provided , of course, Cortana had a future. She tracked thirteen Cov enant warships. Th ey came about and bore down on her position. Her COM channels overloaded with fanatical threats and pr omises of her a nd the ca[...]

172 HALO: FIRST STRIK E rithm. Alas, the Covenant's grasp of Maxwell's equations was ironically inferior to hu man technology. Cortana realiz ed it was fort uitous she ha d shut down the enemy A I before it leaked h er new pl asma guidance system. The thought of every ship in the Covenant fleet refitted with im- proved weaponry was too te[...]

CHAPTER NINETEEN TIME:OATE ERROR Estimated 0530 hours, September 23, 2 5 5 2 (Military Cale ndar)Aboard captured Covenant d rop sh ip , Epsilon Eridani s ystem, en rout e to surface o f Reach . The Master Chief stood on the deck of the Cove nant drops hip. He stood because the crash seats had b een designed for Elites and Jackals and none o f th[...]

174 HALO : FIRS T STR IKE Locklear's tr igger finger t witched, and beads of sweat dott ed his forehea d. "Cortana has this stuff wired ti ght," Sergeant Johnson whis- pered. "No worries." "I got plenty of worries here," Locklear muttered. "Man, I'd rather be in a HEV po d on fire and out of contro l tha[...]

ERIC NYLUND 175 and flooded the display panels with the purple-blue frequency the Cove nant favo red. The Master Chief realized th at he, too, had b een holding his breath. Maybe he and Locklear we re more ali ke than he h ad realized. He took a closer look at the ODST: The wild, desperate look in his eyes an d the flaming-c omet tattoo c overing h[...]

176 HALO: FIRST STRIK E John tried not to think of this as Reach any more—it was only one more world t he Covenant ha d taken. "That canyon," Lieutenant Ha verson said an d pointed at a fis- sure where the earth had been eroded in a sinuous twisti ng scar. "Scanners are just picking up surface info rmation. Let's get a closer [...]

ERIC NYLUND 177 Haverson drummed his long fing ers across his chin, thinking. "Very well, Chief." "I got your six, Master Chief," Locklear said and uns lung his assault rifle. The Spartan nodded to L ocklear and marched dow n the ramp. The Chief wanted them on board the dropship for two reasons. First, if this was a trap and the[...]

178 HALO: FIRST ST RIK E jogged out of t he center of the rav ine, both keeping th eir eyes on the rim of the can yon overh ead. The Master C hief had plenty of questions for Anton, howev er. Like, why had his team split from Red Team? Where was Red Team? And why hadn't the Covenant glassed every square cen- timeter of Reach yet? "You oka[...]

ERIC NYLUND 179 John had never worked with the Admiral before, but his ac- complishments during the battles for New Constantinople and the Siege of the Atlas Moon s were well known. Every Spartan had studied Whitcomb's recor d. John opened a COM channe l to Lieutenan t Haverson. "Move up, sir. All clear." "Roger," Haverson [...]

180 HALO : FI RS T STRI K E Everyone plan etside was bus y evacuating—which was the righ t thing to do—but I had to stay behind." Several e motions played across the Admiral's f ace: conc ern, am usement... and then his features settled into a firm stare as he looked into the past, recalling what h appened. "We'd b een worki[...]

ERIC NYLUND 181 "I see, sir," Lieutenant Haverson replied in a whisper, then glanced at his wa tch. "This was how many days ago?" "Got plenty of tim e left," the Admiral to ld him. "Around twenty hours." Lieute nant H averson swallow ed. "There's just one snag in that plan, though." The Admiral[...]

I 182 HALO: FIRST STRIKE "Sir!" Lieutenant Haverson said. "With all due respect, sir, our first priorit y should be to get back to Earth. The intelli gence we've ga thered o n the Halo construct , the tech nology abo ard the flagship we've captured ... Cortana's Slip space cal culations alone could tur n the tide of th[...]

CHAPTER TWENTY TIME:DATE RECORD ANOMALYEstimated 0610 hours, September 23,2552 (Military Calendar) Aboard captured Covenant drops hip, Epsi lo n Eridani syste m , en r ou te to surface of Reach . Polaski accelerated the capt ured dropship to its m aximum velocity—just under Mac h 1. The craft arced up and joined the long convoy of Covenant ship[...]

184 HALO : FI R S T ST RI KE Locklear hefted the fuel rod gun, grunting from the exertion. The weapon glowed an eerie green alon g its fuel casing. Grace reli eved him of t he too-heav y weapon and shouldered it with ease. "Make sure you get a handgun," the Chief told Lockl ear. "We'll be in close quarters underground." &qu[...]

ERIC NYLUND 185 Cut off from the thin shreds o f sunlight above, the ship wen t dark. T he inte rnal run ning li ghts gl owed a faint b lue. "We've g ot no room to m aneuver in here," Polaski w hispered. Lieutenant Haverson climbed forward. "Admiral Whitcomb, sir, I see how we can get in—assum ing this hol e leads som ewhere?[...]

186 HALO: FIRST STRIKE I want you back in that h ole ASAP. Plug it up. We don' t want to leave our back door wi de open." "Aye, sir," Pol aski replied. Admiral Whitcomb addressed Li . "You're our rear guard, son. Stay here and guard t he ship with Polaski. S orry." "Sir! Yes , sir," Li rep lied. The Mast[...]

ERIC NYLUND 187 Ahead there were silhou etted Grunts and Jackals in the dust clouds, screaming and shooting at the air, each other, anything that m oved. "Keep moving," the Master Chief said. "Move whi le they don't know what's hit them." Anton paused and knelt next to a set of tracks dug i nto the tiled floor. " [...]

188 HALO : FI RS T STRI K E Grace sprang back, just in time. The fallen f uel rod gun sparked, sputtered, and t hen blew with the force of a frag grenade. Black- ened, twisted ti le rained down on t hem. Locklear jo gged up and fired at th e Grants fleeing the excava- tion. They weren't armed. Locklear mowed them down without remo rse. From a [...]

ERIC NYLUN D 189 imagine." She turne d to the Master Chief. "Or is it you I have to thank for this daring operation , John?" The Master Chief fo und he had no words to answer. He als o bristled at her casual use of his gi ven name... but he could for- give her that. She had always used his na me—never his rank or serial number. He [...]

190 HALO: FIRST STRIK E They'd be vaporized before th ey could get halfway to the tun- nel at their backs. A Hunter pair roa red with rag e; they leveled th eir fuel r od cannons at John and his team and, with steady aim, discharged their weapons. A split second later the rest of the alien horde open ed fire.[...]

CHAPT ER TWENTY-ONE TIME:DATE RECORD ANO MALYX Estimated 0640 Hours, September 23,2552 (Military Calendar)Aboard captur ed Covenant flagship Ascendant Justice, pe riphery o f Epsilon Eridan i syst em. Ascendant Justice emerged from the non-Euclidian, non-Einsteinian realm s that hum ans had erroneously c alled "Sl ip- space." There was n[...]

192 HALO: FIRST STRIKE She redlined the reactors, however, to recharge the Sli pspace capacitors and regenerate the plasm a she had expended in her brief fight with the Covenant cr uisers. If she wa s part o f a large r fleet, he r desperate tactics m ight be valuable—flashing all her plasma away and the near-gravity Slipspace jump—but as one s[...]

ERIC N YLUND 193 babble were: uncoverin g the fragm ent of divinit y, and ill uminat- ing shard o f the gods to ex ist the per fect m oment that vanis hes in the blink of an eye but las ts forever, and collecting the st ars left by the g iant s. A liter al transl ation was not a pro blem. It was the m eaning be - hind the wo rds th at eluded h er. [...]

194 HALO: FIRST ST RIKE tapped into t he sof tware; i t had infinit e loop s and dead-end code lines—things that had to be errors. Yet there were also sle nder crystalline translation vect ors that she would never have thou ght of on her own. She copied those and slaved them to her dynamic lexico n. The distant Covenant transmissions poured thoug[...]

ERIC NYLUND 195 the doors were being slowly opened... but not enough to reach the second set o f sealed doors ahead. The opening of those doors halted. "Gotcha," she whispered . She'd keep that section of Ascenda nt Justice sealed unt il Sergeant Johnson could confirm the kills. She wouldn't let her guard down, either. There had[...]

196 HALO: FIRST STRIKE the origin of the copied pathways of the alien AI, and found its replication routine. This cop ying code was extremely convo- luted; in f act, it too k up m ore than two thirds of the Covenant AI's processor-mem ory space. It was dark w ith functions that ran deep to the core. It spread dendritic fingers through the sy s[...]

ERIC NYLUND 197 The replication ceased, and the copying code was once again in- ert and safely stor ed with the dissect ed Covenant AI' s directory . Cortana ran her entire system; nothing else h ad been altered. She checked the new copied system. It was intact, and, apart from a f ew slight e rrors in the sof tware—which she imm ediately me[...]

198 HALO: FIR ST STRIK E These subcommuniques were orders. They originated from new sh ips ente ring the Ep silon Eri dani sys tem and were, in t urn, accepted and acknowledged by those outbou nd. It was an aut omated m ail system that could carry m essages from the center of the Covenant Empire to the outer reaches of the galaxy. The Covenant were[...]

SECTION 4 GAMBIT[...]

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO TIME:DATE RECORD ANOMALYEstimated 0640 hours, September 23,2552 (Military Calendar)Epsilon Eridani system, tunne l comple x below surf ace of Reac h. John tensed as he watched the tho usands of Covena nt crowd- ing on the gall eries surround him an d his team. He d idn't dare move; his team was on the wrong end of too much[...]

ERIC NYLUND 201 overhead, a sp iderweb of ener gy and projec tiles. Every sh ot was directed a t the pai r of Hunters who had fir ed upon Joh n and his team. The Hunter pair r aised their shields in unison and ducked be- hind them—the quarter-meter-thick slabs of metal could repel almost any single weapon's fire ... but not this merciless ba[...]

202 HALO: FIRST STRIKE Dr. Halsey stu ffed the alien crystal into her l ab coat pock et and kne lt next to Kelly . She ch ecked he r vit als on th e data pad and shook he r head. She l ooked at John, her expression grim . "She's alive ... barel y. She needs help ." "Let's not be rude," Adm iral Whitcomb barked. "W[...]

ERIC NYLUND 203 climbed. There were thousands of them—on the floor, clinging to the walls, ov erflowing th e galle ries. The y looked like a swarm of a ngry an ts. The hatch sea led and the Mast er Chief moved forward, toward the cockpit . As he pas sed through the comp artment, he saw Kelly. She was slumped over; thin trails of smoke curled fro [...]

204 HALO: FIRST STRIKE Dr. Halsey inhaled sh arply, and the Mas ter Chief turned to see what had startled her. For a moment he thou ght the crystal sh e had brought with her had shattered. But it hadn't broken, not e xactly. The top half of the slender shard had split along it s facets and opened li ke a flower blossom. T he sapp hire peta ls [...]

ERIC NYLUND 205 discovered ... and they want it bad enou gh to let us shoot at them and not so m uch as spit i n our directio n." "Sir," the Master Chief said. "We're to rendezvous with Cor- tana and the captured flagship at oh-seven-fifteen hours. Tha t give s us only twenty minutes, sir." Admiral Whitcomb consulted h[...]

206 HALO: FIRST STRIKE conduits still agl ow from the heat they carried, and c louds of metal that had been vaporized and had cooled into mists of glit- tering dust . "Cortana's been busy in our absence," Lieutenant Haverson remarked. He nodded approvingly at the carnage. The Master Chief detected flickers of light and dark from the [...]

ERIC NYLUND 207 time, she would've design ed a set of experiments with drone ships to test out her displacement-lu ck hypothesis. But time was so mething neither sh e nor the Master Chief ha d in abundance. Minutes r emained until the ir rend ezvous—an d Cortana would need every millisecond to accomplish what she had to do if any of them wer[...]

208 HALO: FIR ST STRIKE undercarri age were appa rently functi onal. Even better: The shi p's topside hardp oints were intact. Cortana let a flicker of p ower pulse through Ascendant Jus- tice's engine s, and she slowly drifted toward the Gettys burg. She paused to list en to the Covenant traffic insystem . There was eight ti mes the chat[...]

ERIC NYLUND 209 within the outer hull of Ascendant Justice to secure the docking points mating the two ships and ada pt their power uplinks. The reason for this salvage operation, her pinpoint ju mp into the debris field, and the hybrid docki ng. . . it was all for p ower. Ascendant Justice's cover had been blown; the Covenant knew that their [...]

210 HALO: FIR ST STRIKE She made certain her plasma turrets were fully charged ; she rechecked her shaping magnetic coils; she ran a system s check on Ascendant Justice's thrusters in case som ething happened with her exit ju mp and she had to man euver. The time was 0714.10 Military Standard. Corta na then did the one thi ng she was not good [...]

ERIC NYLUND 211 dropped shiel ds for a split sec ond—just long enoug h for the tiny craft to enter—then reestablis hed the protective field. Cortana routed power from the Gettysburg in to Ascendant Justice's Slipspace capacitors, and the y began soaking up the charge. Three dozen Covenant cruisers surrounded her, their plasma turret s glow[...]

212 HALO: FIRST STRIKE She probed t he region wit h her sensors, bu t her range was lim- ited to a thousand kilom eters as if she we re in a n obscurin g fog. There—a contact. An d another. And then a d ozen more. Fourteen Covenant cruisers re solved from the blue mist. "Cortana," the Master Chief said. "What's our status?&quo[...]

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE TIME:DATE R ECORD [[ERROR]] ANOMALYDate unk now n Aboard captured Covenant flagship Ascendant Justice, in Slipsp ace . N o w. "Cortana? " the Master Ch ief asked. "W hat's our sta tus?" The Chief and the r est of his team scram bled out of the Cove- nant dropship. Fred carried a semiconscious Kelly ou[...]

214 HALO: FIRST STRI KE "We jumped," she said, examining her reflection in the art i-fact's mir rored pl anes. "But n ot to the S lipspace we know." The Maste r Chief's radi ation cou nter cli cked and a shrill alarm screamed through his hel met. "Secure that, Anton," h e said and nodded toward the glowing st[...]

ERIC NYLUND 215 Dr. Halsey re moved her glasses, and her eyes wide ned. "Nor- mally, they can 't. If they can fire, then lo gically, we're n ot in Slipspace. And w herever we are," she m urmured, "the rules have changed." The Admiral frowne d. "Cortana," he s houted. "Whatever yo u do, do not return—&q[...]

216 HALO: FIRST ST RIKE As the blast do or lowered, the Chie f saw another fireba ll spill across their port side. Energy sprayed across the bow in a blood red bo reali s. Ascendant Justice's shields flickered and faded... but they held. Barely. The launch bay door touched the deck and sealed with a s ub- sonic thud. "Blast door locked an[...]

ERIC N YLUND 217 stepped onto t he bridg e, sweeping the sp ace with hi s rifle. "Clea r," he told them . Admiral Whitcomb and the others entered the bridge. Lieu- tenant Haverson stepped o nto the raised p latform and said, "Cortana, project tactical on the display s." Enemy ship positions and plas ma tracks appeared on the int[...]

218 HALO: FIRST STRIK E Worry creased Admiral Whitcomb's feat ures. "That leaves just one option. Cortana, give me flank speed and heat up every weapon we have. We're going to run rig ht over these Covenant ships. Tangled s pace or not, we're goi ng to blast the m right back to normal space from point-blank range." "Ye[...]

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR TIME:DATE R ECORD [[ ERROR]]ANOMALYD ate unknown Capt ured Coven ant dr opsh ip n ea r f lag ship Ascendant Justice, in anomalous Slipspace bubble. The faintly blue luminous walls of the Covenant dropship pressed in, which made John feel slightly c laustrophobic. It was ironic when he stopped to think abou t it, because he wa[...]

220 HALO : FIRS T S TRIKE years . . . as it had in th em all. But with Will something special had been lost. Grace, Blue-Six, had a knack for exp losives. She could shap e a charge to cut throug h a single steel bolt with only a whisper sound, or rig a hundred thousand lit ers of kerosene to b low into a firestorm from hell. Ironically her te mper [...]

ERIC NYLUND 221 we scavenged f rom the Gettysburg when we give the all-clear signal." John eased his bo ots onto th e hull. Their m agnetic soles clamped onto t he metal with a sat isfying click. Polaski had landed the Covena nt dropship so that i ts mandibles cradled the hole and gave them so me shelter. Overhead, Slipspac e was on fire. It l[...]

222 HALO: FIRST STRIKE ton, post on top of the dropship. Li, you're at three o'clo ck. Will at nine. I'll take the six." Blue acknowledgment lights winke d on. John helped Fred an d Grace set the pl ates in position. Grace and Fred f ired up the arc welder, and pinpoint s of metal liquefied beneath the ir tips. A shower o f spar[...]

ERIC NYLUND 223 "Incoming!" Polaski cried over the COM. John turned to the dropship and saw a third plasma projectile materialize from the folds of tangled Slipspace. This one skimm ed a mere three meters over the hul l—straight toward them. Will dived into the crux whe re the drop ship met the hull . Fred and Grace hit the deck. Li sto[...]

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE TIME:D ATE R ECORD [[ ERROR]] ANOM ALYD ate Un k no w n Captured C ovenant fla gship Ascendant J ustice, in an o m a lo u s Sl ipspace bubble. Admiral Whitc omb stood on t he bridge of As cendant Justic e. He gripped the edge s of the railing that encircled the central raised platfor m and watched the sea of fi re on the wall[...]

ERIC NYLUNO 225 to thirteen perc ent. Structural integrity rated p oor. I estimate th e hull will fail in no more than five minutes." "Understood," t he Admiral replied. They didn't ha ve much choic e but to play the ha nd that they 'd been d ealt. T he longe r they st ayed in this en vironm ent, th e more damage the Covena[...]

226 HALO: FIRST STRIKE to the starboard hatch and eased it open. He drew his pistol an d checked the passage beyond. "It's clear. Locklear, Sergeant, please give the doctor a hand with her patient." "Yes, sir," Locklea r said. "H appy to s it this battl e out in the es- cape pod." Sergeant Johnson set his rifle on[...]

ERIC NYLUND 227 targets bef ore they st arted firing and f illing the spa ce between us with ionizing pl asma. Now? ..." Mathem atical symbols raced along her leng th, flashing blue and in digo. "Cross-indexing similar mirrored images and extrapolating, I estimate there are currently betwe en three and fiv e operational s hips, sir."[...]

228 HALO: FIRST STRIKE "Glad you concur with m y calculations," the Adm iral re- marked dryly . Lieutenant Haverson glanced at the Gettysburg and nodded, finally under standing. "Aye, s ir. A good plan. " "Admiral," the Master Chief's voice broke through in a wash of static. "Hu ll breach is seale d, sir.&quo[...]

ERIC NY LU ND 229 "They'll get off the fi rst salvo , sir," Li eutenant Havers on said. Although his vo ice was calm, a dr op of sw eat trickl ed down his freckl ed che ek. "I hope they do," the Adm iral replied. "It m ay be the only thing that saves us." Lieutenant Haverson took a deep breath, nodding. "Weap[...]

230 HALO: FIRST STRIK E On screen he saw fire expl ode out the opposite sid e of the cruiser. The warship tilted and rolle d belly-up, plasma disinte- grating the interior from stern to stem until it reached the fu sion core. The ship detonated in a ball of flame. An instant la ter the explos ion twisted and c urved as the warped S lipspace field s[...]

ERIC NYLUND 231 "Sir? The nose?" Cortana paused, then reported, "Intact, sir. Most of the damage has been to the lateral—" "Bring us into d irect contact with that hunk of m etal, Cortana." "Aye, sir," Cortana replie d. Ascendant Justice accele rated toward the broken Covenant ship, and then slowed. The two[...]

232 HALO: F I RS T STRIKE The carrier's hull breached along a doze n rents, and atmosphere vented and fanne d the red-hot metal i nto gold flames. The launch bays chained with explosions. "Fire all weapons, Lieutenan t!" Ascendant Justice fired its re maining turrets. Plasma cut into the carrier and sliced it to the core. Every deck [...]

SECTION 5 MASSACRE AT ERIDANUS SECUNDUS[...]

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX TIME-.DATE RECORD [[ ERROR]]ANOMALYDate unk now n Captured Covenant flagship Ascenda nt Ju stice, in anomalous Sli pspa ce bu bbl e. The Master Chie f woke. Consciousness, however, was a slight overestimation of his condition. His blurry vision came in to focus slowly... but there was nothing to see except the interior of his v[...]

ERIC NYLUND 235 tiny figure, st robing with symbolic l ogic code, waved to him, and when he didn't immediately respond she crossed her arm s impatientl y. "MRIs show no co ncussion, no subd ural or epidu ral hematom as. You must have a thicker skull than I thought ." "Where am I?" "Deck thirty-two on the UNSC frigate G[...]

236 HALO: FIRST STRIK E He paused to view all the ot hers on that list; his first and best friend, Sam , was ther e ... and h e hadn't eve n realized a dozen more had been listed as MIA. He saved the cha nges to the roster a nd closed the file. "What about Kelly and Linda?" he asked Cortana. Cortana looked up and f lipped the hair fr[...]

ERIC NYLUND 237 plasma turrets require refit. And worst, Ascendant Justice's en- gines are crippled. We have less than three percent operational thrust." "Can the ship still jum p to Slipspace? Are we stranded o ut here?" "A jump is possible," Cortana said. She shook her head the way an older si ster might when her bab[...]

238 HALO: FIR S T STR IK E or later. He had, ho wever, always thought it would be later . .. and never now. The Master Ch ief stared at t he tiny triangles, squares, dots, and bars that made up the spatial c oordinates. "We've see n these before, on Co te d'Azur." "Yes. And according to Doctor Halsey, her team on Reach foun[...]

ERIC NYLUND 239 his arms, and ligam ents popped in his chest—but he gritted his teeth and banished the pain fro m his awareness. When the do ors parted , the Maste r Chief paused , taking in the sad state of the Gettysburg's br idge. The fro nt view ports ha d been blown out and recently replaced with welded plates of hull armor. A trio of m[...]

240 HALO: FIR ST STRIKE noticed deep circles of fatigue ringing the younger man's eyes. "To complicate matt ers, we can barely navigate. We've been working around the clock to restore our ships, but we'd need an engineering crew of a hundred and a space dock to get these wrecks into fighting shape." Admiral Whitcomb frowned[...]

ERIC NYL UND 241 that the Covenan t never found it, either. We might be able to ex- pedite repairs there." The Admiral stared thoughtfully at him. "You sure ? Sure enough to bet our lives and Earth on tha t hunch, Chief?" The Master Chief looked again at the tiny dot on the map. It wasn't Eridanus he was thinking o f. It was the[...]

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN TIME:DATE STAMP [[ERROR]] ANOMA LYRevis e d date estimated 0450, Septe mber 12,25 52, capt ured Covena nt flagship Ascend ant Justice, in Slipspace en route to Eridanus system. Dr. Halsey buzzed the doo r open, and t he Master Chief en - tered the clean room. "You wanted to see me, Doc tor?" He qu ickly loo ked the r[...]

ERIC NYL UND 243 speak about your report on the ali en construct—Halo. I've pieced together a bit of the story based on Admiral Whitcomb's recounti ng of your adventure s, Cortana 's debrie fing, and the mis- sion logs of Locklear, Johnson ... and the curious partial mission log of one PFC Wallace Jen kins." The Mast er Chief [...]

244 HALO : FIRS T S TRIKE plasma. Like the burst releas ed by a Covenant plasm a grenade. We don't see many cases—pe ople usually die from the direct ef- fects of those weapon s long before these secon dary symptom s manifest. "Appa rently, the Se rgeant captu red a crate of plasma g renades from the Covenan t during the Siege of Paris [...]

ERIC NY LU ND 245 "And the Sergeant's nervous system is so jumbled that the Flood couldn't force a m atch?" "Correct," she said . "Further b lood tests show his system bearing traces of Flood DNA—very much dead and nonin fec-t ious, but some gene fragments are intact. I believe this is p ro of of a failed attemp[...]

246 HALO: FIR ST STRIK E able to find a countermeasure for the Flood. Maybe. Th ey would have a slightly better chance, however, if you give them the sec- ond report." "Then I'll give them the secon d report." He picked up the crystal. "Which will murder Sergeant Johnson," she said with a chill in her voice. "ON I[...]

ERIC NYLUND 247 "Done," Cortana said. The irritation at having been silenced for the last fi ve minutes was like barbed wir e in her voice. "Wha t precisely was all that about? Teach the Master Chief a lesson? Giving him a c hoice? Save on e man instead of bi llions?" Dr. Hal sey ignored her and r apidly typed in commands on he [...]

248 HALO: FIRST STRI KE "Do you have any data f rom your subsequent g ravity-influenced translation to correlate?" There was a two -second pause, and then C ortana finally an- swered, "Yes, Doctor. There ar e no temporal displace ments on those later jumps." "As I suspected." D r. Halsey tap ped her finger on her lowe [...]

ERIC NYLUND 249 "Aye, Doctor." Linda's medical data winked on a display along with the entir e Spartan roster: a long list of every Spartan's current operational status. Only a handful was left, almost every one of them lis t ed as W OUNDED IN A CTION or M ISSING IN A CTION . "No KI As? " Dr. Hals ey murmu red. She t o[...]

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT 1930 hours, September 12,2552 (revised date , Military Calenda r)Captu red Covenan t flagship Ascendant Justi ce, in Slipspace en route to Eridanus sys tem. Black space churned with pinpricks of light; it split, and the Gettysburg-Ascendant Jus tice appeared in the Eridanus syste m. The Master C hief stood on the Gettysbur g&a[...]

ERIC NYLUND 251 The Master Chief stared at the three large m onitors that had replaced the bridge's observation windows. Eridanus blazed in the center of one d isplay; stars shone with a st eady brilliance. "Move us one-poi nt-five astrono mical units rela tive to the sun, " he said. "Heading zero-nine-zero by zero- four-five.&q[...]

252 HALO: FIR ST STRIKE "No, sir ," the Maste r Chief fin ally replied . "There w ere enem y 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, "the y're not going to be happy to see a U NSC ship knocking on their fron[...]

ERIC NY LUND 253 One of hi s closest teamm ates, his f riend, som eone he had thought dead... w as alive again. "Thank you, Doctor Ha lsey," he said. She waved her hand dismi ssively, and there w as a strange l ook in her eyes—almost as if she had regretted the success of her operation. "Damn good news," Admiral Whitcomb said.[...]

254 HALO: FIRST STRIKE "Lieutenant Haverson," the Admiral barked, "open a channel on the D-band. It's time we intr oduced ourselves." "Aye, sir. Freq uency matched an d channel open." The Admiral stood. "This is the UNSC friga te Gettysb urg" he barked, his voi ce full of authority and colored with his T[...]

ERIC NYLUND 255 "No weapons," the Admiral said and stared at the blocky ge- omet ry of the bl ack ship. "That's all I need to know." "Their 'fleet,' " Fred interjected, "i s deploying and taking up positions around us in a wide ar c. Classic formation. They'll flank us." "There's[...]

256 HALO: FIRST STRI KE the long arm of I mperial Earth and Co venant intrusio ns." Some- one off cam era handed Jiles a data pad with a rad ar silhou ette of Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice; num bers and s ymbols crawl ed alongside the picture. He hesitat ed and crinkled his nose, ap- pearing confused at the od d configuration of m ated craft. &[...]

ERIC NYLUND 257 Mister Jiles." He turned to Co rtana. "If we're not bac k in thirty minutes, blast them all to hell." The Master Chief linked mission telemetry with Cortana as Jiles's m en met them in the landing bay—six m en dressed in black coveralls with old MA3 rifles slung over their should ers. They hesitated, then [...]

258 HALO: FIRST ST RIKE traitor Colonel Watts. Yet Jiles's guards glared at John as if they knew everything. As the Master Chief step ped into the corridor, Cortana in- formed him: "This passage is from a UNSC cargo vess el, ripped out and reinforced with a bulkhead every ten met ers. Airtight and tough. This pl ace can take a lot of dama[...]

ERIC NYLUND 259 skirt, and Jiles gently slid the chair un der her. He offered her a plate of plump strawberries, which she graciously decli ned. Haverson took one of the strawberries, however, and bit int o it. "Delicious," he rem arked. Jiles inclined his head. "Our hy droponics facility—" "With respect, Gover nor, there[...]

260 HALO : FI RS T STRI K E a sip, and nodded appreciatively. "Now, assuming you manage to outwit our ship's AI—whic h I very much doubt—and assum- ing further you somehow d isable our ship's weapons befor e our AI blows your base to atom s—which I also doubt—then you'll have a Covenant fleet to contend with. And I don&a[...]

CHAPTER TW ENTY-N INE 2000 hours, September 12,255 2 (revised date, Military Calendar)Aboard hybrid vessel Get tysb urg-Ascen dant Justice, station-k eeping in Eridanu s syst em. Admiral Whitcomb, the Master Chief, Fred, and Lieuten ant Haverson bounded off the elevator and on to the bridge of the Gettysburg . Cortana's i mage nickered on the[...]

262 HALO: FIRST STRIKE came to life. The Chief scr utinized the Gettysburg's weapons inventory . Governor Ji les appeared on the number three forward displ ay, his face placid except his lips, which pressed together so tightly that they were only a thin whi te line of concentrat ion. "Gove rnor," the Admiral sa id. His voice wa s smo[...]

ERIC NYLUND 263 "Analyzing now," Cortana replied. "Plasm a turret offline. St and by, sir." "I can move my fleet to eng age the en emy," Jil es said uncertainly. Admiral Whitcomb surveyed the forward screens: Jiles, the approaching Covenant crui ser, and the asteroid f ield full of rocks floating on invisible currents.[...]

264 HALO: FI RST STRIKE The ship slowly angled toward the center of the large astero id and backed away. "Cortana? " the Admiral ask ed. "Do we have a w eapons turre t or not ?" "Yes, sir," Cortana said, "bu t the turret's magnetic coils that shape and ai m the plasma charge have overloaded." The Admiral[...]

ERIC NYLUNO 265 of his mustache. "We wouldn't be able to outrun that Covenant cruiser even if we had full power. Our only chance is to take them out before they take u s out. Launch those Clarion spy drones, Chief. Target the regio n abeam that planetoid—so we can see around the c orner." The Master Chief kept one eye on the fluctu[...]

266 HALO: FIRST STRIK E tip; streamers looped upon them selves like tiny solar flares, vi- brated, intensified to orange and then blue- white. "Almost there," Cortana cried. "Hang on." The ball of squeezed pla sma im ploded. It in stantly boile d away a thirty-m eter section of armor and hu ll from Ascendant Justice; the plasma [...]

ERIC NYLUN D 267 sword singleships, and the odd stealth Chirv ptera-class vessel appeared on screen. "Jiles's flee t," Haverson s tated. "And he has us e xactly where he wants us—dead in the water." "Incoming transmission," Cortana said. "Pipi ng it through." "Admiral Whitco mb?" Jiles's[...]

268 HALO: FIRST ST RIKE with her team . She sat c ross-legged b efore a disa ssembled SRS99C sniper rifle and selected g yro compensators, op tics, and adaptive texture barrel sh eaths. Linda proceeded to re- assemble the precision-made weapon with the care of a loving mother caressing her newborn child. Without looki ng up from her rifle she said,[...]

ERIC N YLUND 269 "Master Chief," the Sergeant said. "Reporting as yo u requ ested ." John nodded and low ered his gun, as did the oth er Spartans. "Come i n, Marin es." As he holstered his weapon, John's han d brushed against the belt compartment that held Dr. Halsey's data crystals. He hadn't decided wh[...]

f 270 HALO: FIR ST STRIKE "No," the Chief quie tly said. "They can't wi n. They'll try. Bu t the Covena nt will eventua lly take down one of the orbital MACs, slip through, and pi ck off the ground-based generators. Just like on Reach." Fred visib ly flinch ed. Locklear twisted the red b andanna he had tied on his bice[...]

ERIC NYLUND 271 trate, kill, and blow shit up. If there's room in this operation for an ODST, penci l me in." The Master Ch ief looked to the data pad , then to his team , Locklear, and the Sergeant. They were right: For the first time, they'd know when and where the Covenant would be. If they hit the enemy hard enough, they could st[...]

CHAPTER THIRTY 0440 hours, September 13 ,2552 (revise d date, Military Calend ar) Aboard hy brid ves s e l Ascenda nt Justi ce-G e t t y sb u r g , station-keeping in Eridanus system. Time was running out. Dr. Halsey could fee l the Covenant nearly upon them and he r window of opportuni ty shrinking to a pinpoint. Only a few more things to take ca[...]

ERIC NY LUND 273 Dr. Halsey removed a cloth covering a pair of injectors. She clicked them into the ports o n Kelly's MJO LNIR armor ports that threaded directly into her subclavian and femoral veins. "Keep doin g your ph ysical therap y, and the de rmacortic ster oids will remove most of the scarring and restore your full mobility within[...]

274 HALO: FIRST STRIK E He smoothed his hand ov er his shaved head. "I'm kind of busy right now, so if t his can wait—" "Whatever you're doing," Dr. Halsey told him, "this is m ore impo rtant." She nod ded to Kelly's prone f orm. " I need your hel p getting SPARTAN-087 to the la unch bay ." &[...]

ERIC NYLUND 275 getting it bac k to ONI S ection T hree—eve n if he ha d to gam ble that the Covenant might get it." Locklear sno rted. "Wel l, as much as I don't like El-Tee Wh ite- bread, I'd hand it over if ordered, too. What's the big deal, anyway? We'r e almos t home." "Almost," Dr. Halsey repeate[...]

276 HALO: FIR ST STRIKE The hatch parted with a hiss. She smi led. "Not even Co rtana could crack their crypto, i n- deed." She waved Lo cklear in side. Locklear obliged her and pushed the gurn ey into the ship. Dr. Halsey followed, secu red the examinati on table, and escorted Locklear outside. She turned and headed bac k into the vessel[...]

ERIC NYLUND 277 NAV station. She crossed her ar ms over her chest much as he had, and minute red sym bols raced over her gl owing lavender skin. "Status is nearly identi cal to my last report five m inutes ago, Admiral. Tests on Ascendant J ustice's reactor and the Get- tysburg's engines are in synch, and will be com pleted in forty [...]

278 HALO: FIRST STR IKE my personal property wh en I have sho wed nothing but good faith in this—" "Hold on to your shirttail, G overnor," Admiral Wh itcomb snapped. "I'm in the middle of fin ding out who took your shi p and what prec isely is going on. Cortana, a ny response to our hail?" "An automated code, si[...]

ERIC N YLUND 279 empty star f ield, and the frozen video of Dr. H alsey and Lockl ear in the launch bay. "I want Corpo ral Locklear on the bridg e ten minutes ago. Lieutenant Haverson, have Cortana locate him. Then I want you per sonally to escor t that ODST up here." Have rson swallo wed. "Y es, sir." He marched to the elevato [...]

280 HALO: FIRST STRIKE The Admiral watched as Jiles's fleet of single ships and tech - nicians in jet packs abandoned the Gettysburg, swarming acro ss the dark of s pace back to the safety of the ir asteroid. "Rats leavin g a sink ing s hip? " he wo nder ed al oud. The Master Ch ief wasn't sure if that wa s a question dire cted [...]

ERIC NY LU ND 281 fighting was o ver, Travis an d his men were dead, but it cos t the enem y six hu ndred li ves." "Like t he Battle of Therm opylae," the Chief rem arked. "But there were survivors at the Alamo; they let the civilians live." He turned to the Chief. "You think anyone's going to sur - vive this fi g[...]

r 282 HALO: FIRST STRIKE is also too dam ned clear. Even if we stay and fi ght... they'll all bejustasde ad." "Capacitors at foil charge," Cortana announ ced. "Preparing to enter Slipspace. Waitin g for your order, sir." The Master Chief saw the energy from Ascend ant Ju stice's re- actor drain to 5 percent. Motes[...]

ERIC NYLUND 283 hasn't been trying to kil l me off, though." Locklear turne d to the robotic dolly. "Right, amigo?" Its treads spun, and the flatbed dolly turned to the righ t. "No, no, stop ." He sighed. "Man, I got ta buy myself a ticket out of this outfit. Next thing, I'll be asking one of the Spartans out[...]

284 HALO: FIRST STRIKE pinpricks of stretche d space, the first i ndication of a Slip-s p ac e ju m p . "I'm not going th rough another Slipspa ce fight ," Locklear said through gritted teeth. "I'm not going to let them follow us. Or let this th ing shoot off a signal flare to every C ovenant ship in the galaxy." He gr[...]

SECTION 6 OPERATION: FIRST STRIK E[...]

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE 0510 hours, Sept ember 13,2552 (revis ed date, Military Calendar) Aboa rd hybrid vessel Ge ttysburg-Ascendant Justice, i n Slipsp ace. The Master Chief a nd his team , which now consi sted of Grace, Linda, Will, and Fre d, had been ordered to rep ort to the Officers' Club—normally forbidden territory to NCOs. Of course, [...]

ERIC N YLUND 287 "I just wanted to see who was left o n board and alive." He looked past the open doors to the Officers' Club. "Li eutenant Haverso n will join us shortly. H e's inves tigating the si te of Corporal L o c k - lear's... acciden t." A holograph ic projector p ad upon the bar fli ckered to l ife, and [...]

288 HALO: FIRST ST RIKE an alternative explanation. The timing between that explosion and the radiation flare was only forty-seven milliseconds. Since the cry stal h ad unusu al space- a nd tim e-bendi ng prop ertie s, the missing frag ments may have been 'squee zed' out of the ship and into Slipspace." Haverson a sked incredulo usly[...]

ERIC NYLUND 289 The Ma ster Chie f outline d his missi on pla n, how he and hi s team would take a Covenant dropship and insert into the ren- dezvous location for the invading Covenant fleet. They would then infiltrate t heir command-an d-control center , the Unyieldi ng Hierophant, and destroy it; that would hopefully cripple the Covenant force . [...]

290 HALO: FIR S T STR IK E Admiral Whitcom b narrowed his eyes and reexamined the Lieutenant as if s eeing him for the first ti me. "You'd never survive the Slipspace t ransition," Cortana told him. "But..." She tapped her lip wi th her fo refinger, deep in thought. "There might be another way." Covenant icons ent[...]

ERIC NYLUND 291 The Master Chief parked the groaning overloaded robotic dolly next to the side hat ch of the Covenant dr opship. The dolly held four tons of carbon-molybdenum steel I-bea ms. Will unloaded the car go and hauled it inside , where Fred and the Sergeant cross-braced and welded the beams in place. This was the final rein forcement to th[...]

292 HALO: FIR ST STRIKE Fred emerged f rom inside, an d Linda handed him an armful of submachine guns. The Master Chief detected a s light limp to h er stride and an almost imperceptible awkwardness to her usual fluid motions. He opened a p rivate COM channel to Linda . "What's your s ta- tus? Are you fit ?" She shrugged. This gestur[...]

ERIC NYLUN D 293 Haverson l ooked up and slick ed the sweat-dren ched hai r from his face. "What can I do for you, Chief?" The Master Chief eased into the co pilot's seat. "Dr. Halsey gave m e someth ing to pass o n to O NI Secti on Th ree: her analysi s on the Flood." Haverson's eye brows shot up. He opened his belt c[...]

294 HALO: FIRST STRIKE "Allow me, Se rgeant." John gr asped the two -hundred-kilogram mach ine and lifted it with one ha nd. The Master Chief exited the dropship, and he and the other Spartans assembled outside. He stowed the arc welder and took his position at the head of the Spartan formation. Admiral Whitcom b looked them over on ce an[...]

CHAPTER T HIRTY -TWO 0530 hou rs, Sep temb er 13 ,2552 (re vised date, Mi l i ta r y Calendar)Aboard captured Covenant d ropship, in Slipspace. The dr opship rolled , inve rted, an d spun out of cont rol. It tum- bled and pitched, and on e of the I-beams soli dly welded to the hull bucked and snapped. The Spartan s of Blue Team were strapped t o t[...]

296 HALO : FIRS T STRIKE "You know those SS probes?" Fred asked. "They're almost solid Titaniu m-A." The Mast er Chief ch ecked hi s team's biosigns: erratic but still within normal operational parameters. Grace's heart skipped a beat or two, but then r eturned to a normal strong rhythm. No broken bones or sig ns [...]

ERIC NYL UND 297 "Affirmative," the cloned Cortana answered. "I'm picking up a tremendous volum e of Covenant COM traf fic on the F- thr ough K-bands. They've pinged us three ti mes already for a response, Chief. Awaiting orders." "How can you pick up any signal insid e this lead-lined hull? " "The hull [...]

298 HALO: FIRST STRIK E edge of the hatch, and his arm s failed to respond. Five hundred ship s? There wa s more f irepower h ere than he had eve r seen be- fore. This fleet would easily ov erwhelm any UNSC defensive force—whether or not the Admiral got through with his warning . Their opening sal vo would be a tidal wave of plasma, and it would [...]

ERIC NYL UND 299 and titanium plates under neath showed through. Without their reinforcements, the craft would have disintegrated on the rough ride through Slipspace. "Cov enant C & C res pondin g to our requ est," th e copied Cor-tana inf ormed him . "Ferry en route to take u s in f or repai rs. The y were a little confused abou[...]

300 HALO: FIRST STRIKE The Chief grabbed a battle r ifle and, for close use, a pair of submachine guns. He took a pair of silencers for the SMGs and hip holsters for the s maller weapons. He picked up a dozen frag grenades in their plastic ring car rier and slotted that into the le ft thigh section o f his armor. He'd need a mmunition, a l ot [...]

ERIC NYLUND 301 The tug turned to face a new ship in the distance. This vesse l looked like two teardrop-shaped Covenant ships that had co llided, giving the result an ov erall elon gated figure-ei ght geom etry. They moved towar d this ship, and t he Master Chief made out more details. Spokes radiat ed from the narrow midpoint of the vessel and co[...]

r 302 HALO: FIR S T STR IK E have to face it hea d-on. There was no where to hide ins ide the re- inforced and to o-cramped inte rior of their dropship. The port hatch cracked and squeaked open. Linda and John aimed their rifles.[...]

CHAPTER THIRTY-THRE E 0610 hours, September 13,2552 (revise d date, Milita ry Ca lenda r) Aboa rd Cove nant battl e stat ion Unyield ing Hi eropha nt. A rubbery tentacle reached in along the seam of the dr op - ship's hatch. John raised his han d and signaled Lin da to stand dow n. He recognized the alien limb—the splittin g cilia feelers [...]

304 HALO: FIRST STRIK E Five sec onds lat er acknow ledgment l ights from Blue Fo ur and Three winked on. It was safe for the rest of them. John grabbed the upper lip o f the hatchway and flipp ed up onto the top of the dropship. He grabbed a dangling cord and pulled himself onto the latticework deck where Fred and Linda perched , watching and maki[...]

ERIC NYLUND 305 He used both hand s to point a t Fred and Linda, turned hi s hands s o they po inted to hi mself, and then nodded to the dat a terminal. Linda l ay flat an d slith ered to the e dge of the alco ve sh adows on his right; Fred took the left. They would cover him while he moved to the term inal. John reache d to the b ack of his neck a[...]

306 HALO: F I RS T ST RI KE you?" he asked. "It w ould be handy to have you mon itor the Covenant security systems." The d uplic ate C ortana was s ilent a full thr ee seco nds . "There is a wa y," she fin ally repli ed. "When I was copied f rom the origi- nal Cortana, the duplicati ng software was copied as w ell—it[...]

ERIC NY LUND 307 According to John's mission tim er they had followed this route for eleven hours—whe n it dead-ended. "New welds," Fred said, running his gauntlet over the seams in the alloy plate blocki ng their path. Cortana broke in over th e COM, "It m ust be a repair not logged int o the st ation m anifest." John sa[...]

308 HALO: FIRST STRIKE group of Jackals passed the mouth o f the alley only five meters from h is position. He duck ed ... and non e of the vul turelike creatures saw him in the dark. When they passed he looked up and saw that the fiber-optic probe had not been broken after all. The space station was hollow inside, and a lig ht beam shot lengthwise[...]

ERIC NYLUND 309 "Do it," John said. "Le t me know when you'r e in position and ready." Linda retrieved a padded gra ppling hook and rope f rom her pack, twirled i t, and tossed i t up and over the a djacent roof. Sh e tugged it once, it caught, and then she quickly ascended. The remaining Spartans joined John in the shadows[...]

310 HALO: FIRST STRIK E "There are dozen s of re ports on t he secur ity channe ls. I've g ot them covered." Another Cortana voi ce broke in o ver the first: "Al so be ad- vised, Chief, that there are cere monial guards in this temple—a race we have not encountered before. Roughly translated from Covenant dialects, they are ca[...]

ERIC NYLUND 311 Even with his MJOLNIR armor, John was not a s strong as the alien. It pounded on him with bare fists—broke through his shield- ing, grabbed his neck, and squeezed. Red flashes pl ayed across John's vision. He began to black out.[...]

CHAPTER THI RTY-FOUR 1751 hours, September 13,2552 (revise d date, Military Cale nd ar)Aboard Cove nant battle st atio n Unyield ing Hi eropha nt. John struggled an d tried to pry the hands from his t hroat. The tendons in the Brute's forearms were solid bands of steel—and the creature was so determined to rip John's head off that a fu[...]

ERIC NYLUNO 313 and legs, torque and your center of mass ... and most impor- tantly your mind. He pulled his knees to his chest, and tucked his torso toward his pelvis at the same t ime. He twisted ninety degrees and shot out both legs and arms, and unc oiled his body. The maneuver was called "shrimping." John's head slipped from the[...]

314 HALO: FIR S T STR IK E The instant he did this, two Brutes wheeled f rom their cover on either side of th e entrance archway. They held rifl es with large-c aliber mu zzle s and padd ed sto cks, fixed with razor-ed ged blades. One of th e Brutes saw John, a imed, and fired. John darted back behin d the basalt pillar; he saw the flash and thunde[...]

ERIC NYLUND 315 fire. The temple op ening and Brutes vanish ed, replaced by a cloud of dust and a cascade of stones that fell fro m the ceiling. One gray arm remained expos ed under the rub ble, still f lexing. John moved up. The entrance wa s sealed. They were safe for a few seconds. He knelt next to Grace. Her biosigns ha d flatlined. He tried to[...]

316 HALO: FIRST STRIKE by side, but John had to crouch and turn sideways to pass. Will and Fred followed; Cortana sealed the door beh ind them. They continued until the narrow pas sage turned ninety d e- grees and dropped straight down. Will attached a rope and they rappelled down a hundred meters, landing on a platform. John overlooked a cavern he[...]

ERIC NYLUND 317 The light from the react ors shifted; blue plas ma tinged white and spread like a poison through the inter connecting conduits . "Overload commencing," the copy of Cortana announced. "I suggest Blu e Team move at top speed to the exit." A NAV triangle indicated a ladder that ran to the catwalk overhead. John held[...]

318 HALO: FIRST STRIKE John turned toward th e far end of the great room and spotted a band of translucent material on the far wall . It led to the repair bays and air locks b eyond. Tha t was t heir e xit. He glanced at his m ission tim er: 8:42. They'd have to get there fast. His gaze locked onto the Bans hees in the air. He searched for Lin[...]

ERIC N YLUND 319 John, Fred, and Will rai sed their rifles. There was a muted crack of a sniper r ifle, and another Ban- shee drifted to t he ground, it s pilot felled by Linda's uncanny skill. The last remaining pilot veer ed starboard, not knowing wh at had just taken out its two wingmates .. . only that it had to get out of the area if it w[...]

320 HALO: FIR ST STRIK E repai r bays . Joh n set tled hi s Bans hee n ext to the irs, tu rned h is backpack a round, reach ed in, and tos sed Fred hi s last Lotus anti- tank mine. "Get t hat on the window and set for a remote t rigger." He then risked an open COM cha nnel to the cop y of Cortana in the station's system. "Co rta[...]

CHAPTER THI RTY-FIVE 1820 hours, September 13,2 552 (revised date, Military Ca lenda r)Aboar d Co venant batt le stat io n Unyielding Hierophant. The Master Chi ef accelerated h is Banshee to it s top speed. There was ano ther explosio n at the t emple, and plumes of steam geysered into the air from the heat-exchange plant. The circling formations[...]

322 HALO: FIRST STRIKE impacted a water tower, and the structure det onated into a cloud of blind ing st eam. John punched the Banshee through the clo ud, glanced down, and saw a W raith tank tracking his traject ory. He ducke d and weaved but kept moving towar d Linda's probabl e location. His missi on countdo wn timer read 7:06 . There wa s [...]

ERIC NYLUND 323 slowed them down—but there was no other w ay to fit two p eople on the craft. "Coming in hot," John said o ver the COM to Fred and Will. "Open the door an d get ready for a quic k exit, Blue Team." Fred's acknowledgment light winked on. "Cortana, breach those air locks. Now!" A cacophony of voice[...]

324 HALO: FIRST STRIKE every twenty meters a long the bay walls, t he air lock doors were opening. Beyond, stars shone upon vel vet black. Fred and Will's Banshe es appeared off John's starboard c a- nard. John pointed and togethe r they dived, accelerating toward a bull's-eye pattern of cracks on the translucent portion of t he wall[...]

ERIC N YLUND 325 John spotted a dropship drifti ng a kilom eter ahead, dead i n space. He clicked his COM o nce and droppe d a NAV marker onto a Covenant craft. Fred and Will's acknowledgment lights winked on. John pulsed the Ban shee's en gines once and le t its inerti a carry them to the dropship. He hoped the rest of the Covenant Fleet[...]

326 HALO: FIRST STRIKE "Communiques and queries to and from every ship in the f leet wondering what the hel l is going on. An d the station's C OM channels are all full of those copie d Cortanas ... and she's j ust repeating different system error codes." "What's this?" John asked, leaning over Fre d's should[...]

ERIC NYLUND 327 "Perfect, M aster Chief . Bring 'em on back to the barn. Stay on your head ing. You r instincts are dead on. We're o n the f ar side of the moon and are waiting for you." John motioned to Li nda to increase their velocity. She pus hed the acceleratio n stripe to three quarters power . "Waiting, sir?" &q[...]

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX 1825 hours, September 13,2552 (revised date, Mi l it ary Calen dar)Ab oard UNSC ve ssel Gettysburg, near Covenant battle station Unyielding Hieropha nt. The Mas ter Chief and Bl ue Team stepped off the lift and onto the bridge of the Gettysburg. "Sir—" John started to salute Ad miral Whitcomb, but neither the Admiral[...]

ERIC NYLUND 329 hull was breached in a dozen places, its skeletal fra me exposed, and onl y a handf ul of pla sma con duits flickered with lif e. "I don't unders tand," the Chie f said. He stepped cl oser to Cortana's hologram . Being near the real Cortana—not o ne of her fragmented copies—reassured hi m that everything was [...]

330 HALO: FIRST STRIKE sending this image to ev ery ship in the system and letting th em know it's theirs for th e taking ... if they dare to board this ship and face Earth's best warriors." He lau ghed. "I think that'll ap- peal to those E lites and t heir overinflate d sense of honor ." John nodded. "Yes, s ir. [...]

ERIC NYLUND 331 son groggi ly got to his feet as well, h is arm held at an odd angle, broken. "Systemwi de transmission," A dmiral Whitcom b barked to Haverson. "Aye, sir," Haverson said and clumsily adjusted the COM. "Come on, mighty Covenant warriors," the Admiral shouted. "We're here in the m iddle of your[...]

332 HALO: FIR S T STR IK E afraid. Ju st a few g ood soldie rs fighting f or what's ri ght made the difference." "Yes, sir." John remem bered all those who had made a difference f or him. Sam. James. CPO Mendez. Captain Keyes. The men and women who h ad fou ght a nd died o n Halo. And now tw o mor e names to add t o that list: W[...]

ERIC NYL UND 333 "Aye, Chief," Will sa id. "Thruster s responding." The side view screens showe d a hailsto rm of m olten metal streaking toward th e drone's cam eras—then their view was obscured by the black- and silver-pockmarked surface of the tiny m oon. "Cortana, is the Get tys bu rg ready to jump?" the Chi[...]

334 HALO : FIRS T STR IKE additional copying that caused its breakdow n, but that copy did have some of my core personality programming as well. I just hope it's not a sign of.. . some other instability." Cortana ha d been on ed ge. She had been so distract ed at times she hadn't known the correct ti me. They had, however, all been p[...]

ERIC NYLU ND 335 from all threats, and they had fu lfilled their duty as fe w ever could. And like his Spartans who were "missing in action," the Admiral and the Lieuten ant would never d ie, eith er. Not b ecause of a technicality in a mission status listing, but b ecause in their deaths they would live on as inspira tions. John turned a[...]

336 HALO: FIRST STRI KE That was the poi nt, wasn't i t? He couldn' t know the future. He had to do what he could to sa ve every person. To day. Now. So he decided. He tighten ed his fist aro und the crystal with the com plete mis- sion data and cru shed it to dust. John couldn 't condem n Sergeant Johnson. He hefted the remaining da[...]

SECTION VII HARBINGER[...]

EPILOGUE Ninth Age of Reclamat ion, Step of Silence Covenant Holy City "High Char ity ," San ctum o f t he Hi erarch s. A hundred thousand probes darted and scanned with winki ng electronic eyes across the voi d of tangled no nspaces envelopi ng the Covenant inn er empir e. They gathe red data and em erged into the cold vacuu m, where t[...]

ERIC NYLUND 339 and respiratory apparatu s that extended like insect antennae. Only its snout and dark eyes pro truded. . . as d id tiny claws fr om the sleeve of i ts gold underro bes. The left claw twitched—th e signal for the chamber's doors to open. The doors groaned and split apart, and a crack of light appeared. A single figure appeare[...]

340 HALO: FIRST STRIKE its head even lowe r. "Many w ere lost in the void . This is a ll there was to find." "A pity." The orb's lid screwed itself back on, and then the container gently drifted into the Prophet's grasp. "It may yet be enough f or our purposes... and one m ore relic from the Great Ones, as preciou[...]