Halo_ First Strike - Eric S. Nylund [80]
Luck?
John had always felt the other men and women in the UNSC were different; he'd felt at ease only with the other Spartans. But weren't they all fighting and dying for the same reason?
The ruddy light from Epsilon Eridani suddenly filled the cockpit as the two cruisers passed on. Polaski sighed, slumped forward, and wiped the sweat from her brow. Locklear reached into his shirt pocket, removed a clean and pressed red bandanna, and offered it to Polaski.
She looked at it for a second, then glanced at the Corporal, then took it. "Thanks, Locklear." She folded it into a headband, flipped her blond hair from her face, and tied it around her forehead.
"No problem, ma'am," Locklear replied. "Anytime." "Locking onto the signal source," Lieutenant Haverson said. "Course two-three-zero by one-one-zero." "Two-three-zero by one-one-zero, aye," Polaski said. She gently pushed forward and turned the yoke.
The dropship smoothly banked into a gentle dive. The surface of Reach disappeared from the screens as the dropship entered the thick clouds of smoke that wreathed the planet.
There was a quiet beep, and the display filters activated. A moment later, images resolved on the display screens—hundreds of thousands of hectares of raging firestorms and blackened char where there had once stood forests and fields.
John tried not to think of this as Reach anymore—it was only one more world the Covenant had taken.
"That canyon," Lieutenant Haverson said and pointed at a fissure where the earth had been eroded in a sinuous twisting scar. "Scanners are just picking up surface information. Let's get a closer look."
"Understood." Polaski inverted the ship, executed a reversed roll, and dropped into the canyon. When she righted the drop-ship, sculpted rock walls raced past them only thirty meters to either side.
The Lieutenant reached for the backpack COM system they had removed from the Pelican. He fine-tuned the frequency of the unusual signal they were homing in on; a six-tone message played, followed by a two-second pause, and then it repeated.
"Open a channel on that E-band, Lieutenant," the Master Chief said. "I'll need to send the countersignal."
"Channel open, Chief. Go ahead."
The Master Chief linked his COM and encrypted the channel so only those people sending the signal would hear him. "Oly Oly Oxen Free," he spoke into his microphone. "All out in the free. We're all free."
The beeping over the backpack COM speaker suddenly stopped.
"Signal's gone." Lieutenant Haverson snapped his head around and stared at the Master Chief. "I'm not sure what you just told them, but whatever it was, they heard you."
"Good," the Master Chief replied. "Set us down somewhere safe. They'll find us."
"There's an overhang ahead," Polaski said. She moved the ship toward a deep shadow along the starboard side where the cliff angled out from the canyon. "I'll put us down there." She spun the ship, backed into the darkness, and set it down light as a feather.
"Open the side hatch," the Chief told Polaski. "I'll go out alone and make sure it's safe." "Alone?" Lieutenant Haverson asked. He rose from his seat. "Are you certain that's wise, Chief?" "Yes, sir. This was my idea. If it's a trap, I want to be the one to set it off. You stay here and back me up."
Haverson drummed his long fingers across his chin, thinking. "Very well, Chief." "I got your six, Master Chief," Locklear said and unslung his assault rifle.
The Spartan nodded to Locklear and marched down the ramp. The Chief wanted them on board the dropship for two reasons. First, if this was a trap and they were all caught out in the open, he wouldn't have time to save them and himself. Second, if the Covenant were here, waiting, then Haverson and the others had to get away and get Cortana