Halo_ First Strike - Eric S. Nylund [137]
They moved toward this ship, and the Master Chief made out more details. Spokes radiated from the narrow midpoint of the vessel and connected to a slender ring that he hadn't seen before because they had approached facing it edge-on. Featherlike tubes extended from either bulbous section and moved slowly over that central wheel. John squinted to make out more details on this unusual ship, but he was already at maximum resolution.
It had a ring? Was it rotating? But the Covenant had gravitational technology. They didn't need rotating sections to simulate gravity.
Then he saw something recognizable on the structure: tiny ships docked to that ring. Covenant cruisers and carriers. There must have been sixty connected to the central hub.
The titanic perspective of this structure clicked into place. The carriers looked like toys. The twin teardrop shapes had to be thirty kilometers end to end. This could only be the Covenant command-and-control center, the Unyielding Hierophant.
The tug moved directly toward the station. It was precisely where they had to go, so it was a lucky break... but ironically, it was also the last place the Master Chief wanted to be.
There was no telling what kind of sensors the Unyielding Hierophanthad, but they couldn't take chances. John retreated into the dropship and eased the hatch shut.
He moved deeper into the ship and waited with the rest of Blue Team. Three minutes ticked by on his mission clock; John tried to control his breathing and focus his mind.
Gravity settled his stomach, and there was a series of metallic clatters along the hull. Atmosphere hissed in though the cracks of their breached ship.
John pointed at Fred and Grace and then to the starboard hatch. They leveled their rifles and moved. He pointed to Linda and himself, then the port hatch, and they also moved into position.
John wasn't sure what kind of reception waited for them on the other side of those hatches, but one thing was certain—they'd
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302 HALO: FIRST STRIKE
have to face it head-on. There was nowhere to hide inside the re
inforced and too-cramped interior of their dropship. The port hatch cracked and squeaked open. Linda and John aimed their rifles.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
0610 hours, September 13,2552 (revised date,Military Calendar) \ Aboard Covenant battle station
Unyielding Hierophant.
A rubbery tentacle reached in along the seam of the dropship's hatch.
John raised his hand and signaled Linda to stand down. He recognized the alien limb—the splitting cilia feelers and globular sensory organs could belong only to a Covenant Engineer.
The Engineer pushed open the hatch and entered the ship, floating past John and Linda as if they weren't there. It chittered and squawked as it ran its tentacles over the foreign armor plates and spatters of lead. Two more Engineers bolted through the open hatch and joined the first.
As long as they left the single-minded aliens to their work, they wouldn't raise an alarm. But what else was out there?
John eased against the frame of the hatch and slid the fiber-optic probe outside. There was a line of dropships, Seraph fighters, and other singleships that stretched away into the shadows. Swarms of Engineers, thousands of the creatures, hovered and drifted throughout the area. They moved parts, disassembled and reassembled sections of ship hulls, and plumbed plasma coils. There was no trace of a welcome party of Elites waiting for Blue Team.
John turned the optic probe up and saw a latticework deck overhead with tools, welders, and spotlights hanging like jungle vines. It was as good a place as any to get their bearings.
John turned and pointed at Linda and Will, then out the hatch and up. They nodded and moved out.
Five seconds later acknowledgment lights from Blue Four and Three winked on. It was safe for the rest of them.
John grabbed the upper lip of the hatchway and flipped up onto the top of the dropship. He grabbed a dangling cord and pulled himself onto the latticework deck where Fred and Linda