Halo_ First Strike - Eric S. Nylund [28]
A dull thump echoed behind the thick metal, then an eerie silence descended on the bay. Polaski struggled to her feet and fed a fresh clip into her pistol. Her hands shook.
"Cortana," the Chief said. "We need an alternate route to the bridge."
A blue arrow flashed on his heads-up display. The Chief turned and spotted a hatch to his right. He pointed to the hatch and signaled his team to move, then ran to the hatch and touched the control panel.
The small door slid open to reveal a narrow corridor beyond, snaking into the darkness.
He didn't like it. The corridor was too dark and too narrow—a perfect place for an ambush. He briefly considered heading back to the primary bay door, but abandoned that idea. Smoke and sparks poured from the door seams as the Covenant forces on the other side tried to burn their way through.
The Chief clicked on his low-light vision filters, and the darkness washed away into a grainy flood of fluorescent green. No contacts.
He paused to let his shields recharge, then dropped into a low crouch. He brought his rifle to bear and crept into die corridor. The interior of the passage narrowed, and its smooth purple surface darkened. The Chief had to turn sideways to pass through.
"This looks like a service corridor for their Engineers," Cortana said. "Their Elite warriors will have a tough time following us."
ERIC NYLUND
The Chief grunted an acknowledgment as he eased his way through. There was a scraping sound and a flash of sparks as his energy shield brushed the wall. It was too tight a fit. He powered down the shields, which left him just enough room to squeeze through.
Locklear followed behind him, then Polaski, the Sergeant, and finally Haverson.
The Chief pointed at Haverson, then at the door. The Lieutenant frowned, then nodded. Haverson closed the hatch and ripped out the circuitry for the control mechanism.
There had been dozens of Engineers in the launch bay— and there were enough on the ship to merit their own access tunnel. The Chief hadn't seen anything like this on the Truth and Reconciliation.
In fact, he hadn't seen a single Engineer on that ship. What made this ship different? It was armed like a ship of war... yet had the support staff of a refit vessel.
"Stop here," Cortana said. The Chief halted and killed his external speakers so he could speak freely. "Problem?" "No. A lucky break, maybe. Look to your left and down twenty centimeters."
The Chief squinted and noticed that a portion of the wall extruded into a circular opening no larger than the tip of his thumb. "That's a data port. . . or what passes for one with the Covenant Engineers. I'm picking up handshake signals in shortwave and infrared from it. Remove me and slot me in."
"Are you sure?"
"I can't do much good in there with you. Once I'm directly in contact with the ship's battlenet, however, I can infiltrate and take over their systems. You'll still need to get to the bridge and manually give me access to their engineering systems. In the meantime, I may be able to control secondary systems and buy you some time."
"If you're sure."
"When have I not been sure?" she snapped.
The Chief could sense her impatience through the neural interface. He removed Cortana's data chip from the socket in his helmet.
The Chief felt her leave his mind, felt the heat rush back into his head, pulsing with the rhythm of his heart... and once again, he was alone in the armor.
He slotted Cortana's chip into the Covenant data port. Locklear's face rippled with disgust, and he whispered, "You couldn't pay me to stick any part of myself in that thing." The Chief made a slashing gesture across his throat, and the
Marine fell silent.
"I'm in," Cortana said.
"How is it?" the Chief said.
There was a half-second pause. "It's ... different," Cortana replied. "Proceed thirty meters down this passage and turn left."
The Chief motioned the team forward.
"It's very different," Cortana murmured.
Cortana was