Halo_ Ghosts of Onyx - Eric S. Nylund [137]
Covenant armada. Lash hoped, though, whatever this planet-side activity was would distract them and give the Dusk a chance to finally escape.
Lieutenant Bethany Durruno rocked back and forth in her seat, her eyes glued to the three satellite uplinks streaming through her NAV station. She tapped on a trio of microthruster controls, keeping the BLACK WIDOW satellites just hovering at extreme contact range.
She was right on the edge. For that matter, so were Yang and Waters. Even Cho belowdecks was showing classic withdrawal signs that accompanied combat fatigue.
The Dusk had survived the destruction of Admiral Patterson's fleet, and then stayed quiet and camouflaged in the dark while the Covenant armada ran right over them.
That had been the hardest on his crew—moving meter by meter toward the moon, drifting through a debris field full of shattered UNSC ship hulls, destroyed escape pods… and thousands of bodies of the bravest men and women in the Navy
They'd made it undetected to the opposite side of the silver moon of Onyx, and gently came to rest in the shadow of a crater. While the Dusk settled to the surface. Lieutenant Commander Cho had released three baseball-sized BLACK WIDOW stealth satellites, so they could monitor the Covenant forces.
"Energy waves spreading across the planet, sir," Yang said, utterly confounded by his readings.
"Put it on-screen," Lash ordered.
The three main viewscreens flickered to life as the feed from their satellites streamed images of Onyx: oceans of lapis and pearl-colored clouds, emerald continents with zigzagging mountain ranges.
In high orbit glided Covenant vessels. They moved in packs, simmering blue against the black of space.
A dot appeared on the planet's surface—a red flare that arced
upward, showering molten rock and ash. Three more winked on… then a dozen more flashed… then hundreds.
Jagged cracks tore between the eruptions and a spiderweb pattern of glowing lava fissures spread over the world. They reached the polar regions and the ice caps detonated into geysers of steam.
"Plasma bombardment," Waters whispered. "The Covenant are glassing the place."
"No plasma detected, sir," Yang said. "All energy originating from inside the planet."
A single beam of light pierced the thickening clouds—a blinding gold hue that sliced the
upper atmosphere and shot into space.
Wavering spectra flashed on Yang's screen.
"We've seen that before," Lash said. "Combined drone fire."
A second beam joined this first one; then thousands flashed on and radiated from the
surface of Onyx—scintillating lances filled space and transformed the world into a sea urchin of pure energy.
Covenant ships caught by the beams vanished, instantly ionized.
Onyx shattered and the surface exploded into space.
Obscured by layers of dust and fire, a blazing pattern emerged beneath: crosses and lines and dots.
"Magnification factor one thousand," Lash ordered.
Yang was frozen.
Waters bent over and tapped in the command.
The view on-screen blinked and stepped closer—past boiling air, clouds, tumbling mountains—zooming to ground level, revealing a lattice of three-meter-long rods and half-meter blazing red spheres that hovered between them, forming a crystalline structure.
"Back it off," Lash said
The view pulled back and showed that this drone-constructed scaffolding stretched over kilometers… they had been under
every landmass, every ocean… under the entire surface— orderly linked rows like the carbon bonds of an infinite polymer chain, or an immense colony of living interlinked army ants.
The drones were the planet Onyx.
"There are trillions of them," Lieutenant Durruno whispered. Clusters of drones heated; culminated beams shot forth again, targeting more distant
Covenant vessels and vaporizing them.
"They're protecting this place," Waters said. "Why?"
"Shockwave from surface detonation impacting far side of the moon in seven seconds,"
Durruno said. The blood drained from her face.
The viewscreens filled with static.
"Lost the satellites," Yang cried.