Halo_ Ghosts of Onyx - Eric S. Nylund [25]
He was going to pay for shoving him. He was the only one who knew that Shane had
frozen on the edge and chickened out. He'd have to pay for that, too.
Shane started pounding him with right and left fists.
The kid held up his arms to fend off the blows, but Shane landed a few good ones,
skinning his knuckles.
Robert headbutted Shane, and he fell off.
Robert stood, shook off his harness, then growling, leapt onto Shane.
They rolled on the grass, kicking and punching.
Shane heard a loud snap and he wasn't sure if it was his or Rob's bone breaking; he
didn't care, he kept hitting and hitting until blood spilled into his eyes and he couldn't see anymore.
Large hands grabbed Shane and pulled him off. Still swinging, Shane connected with one of the Navy men, bruising the bone over his eye.
The man dropped him.
"Stand down!" barked a voice with godlike authority.
Shane blinked and wiped blood from his eyes. The silver-haired man who had given the order to jump stood between him and the other kid.
The Navy man he'd hit pressed one hand to his swollen eye and said, "Chief, these two were going to kill each other."
"I see that," the old man said. He nodded approvingly at Shane, and then turned to Robert.
Robert ignored the old man and took a step toward Shane with his hands raised. "I said STAND DOWN!" Robert dropped his hands and staggered back as if he'd been struck. "I think you're right, Sergeant," the older Navy man said. "They really might have killed
each other." He smiled, only it
wasn't a smile. It was more like he was baring his teeth. "Very good. That kind of fight left in them after their first jump? A night jump? My God, I only hope the rest of them are like this."
CHAPTER
SEVEN
0000 HOURS, JANUARY 19, 2532 CMILITARY CALENDAR) / NARROW-BAND POINTTO-POINT TRANSMISSION: ORIGIN UNKNOWN; TERMINATION: SECTION THREE, OMEGA SECURE ANTENNA ARRAY, UNSC HO EPSILON ERIDANI SYSTEM, REACH MILITARY COMPLEX
///AUTOMATED REROUTE UNSC SHIP REG-96667 ABY/// FILE ACCESS GRANTED///WORM-PROTOCOL FIREWALL ENABLED/FILE ERASED/// PLNB TRANSMISSION XX087R-XX ENCRYPTION CODE: GAMMA PUBLIC KEY: N/A FROM: CODE NAME COALMINER TO: CODE NAME SURGEON SUBJECT: PROGRESS REPORT/OPERATION HYPODERMIC CLASSIFICATION: EYES ONLY, CODE-WORD XXXX XXXX TOP SECRET (SECTION THREE X-RAY DIRECTIVE)
/FILE EXTRACTION-RECONSTITUTION COMPLETE/ /START FILE/ INSTITUTIONAL RECORDS ALTERED AS PER INSTRUCTIONS. INITIAL CONTACT WITH BASE AI MADE. HELPFUL, BUT I DON'T TRUST IT . PACKAGES DELIVERED. SELECTION PROCESS STARTED. OPERATION UNDERWAY AND ON
SCHEDULE. CANDIDATES EXHIBIT MARKED AGGRESSION WELL OUT OF BOUNDS OF THE SMITH
KENSINGTON INDEX . AS MUCH WORK TRAINING THEM AS IT IS KEEPING THEM FROM MURDERING EACH OTHER. THEY'RE REAL HELLCATS . LIEUTENANT CLAIMS ALL UNDER CONTROL. HE HAS A PLAN FOR EVERYTHING. UNSURE
WHERE HE'S GETTING THIS CONFIDENCE, BUT I DO BELIEVE HE KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING. ARE YOU SURPRISED?
/END FILE/ /SCRAMBLE-DESTRUCTION PROCESS ENABLE/ PRESS ENTER TO CONTINUE.
CHAPTER
EIGHT
0900 HOURS, JULY 30, 2537 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD UNSC POINT OF NO RETURN, LOCATION CLASSIFED (15 YEARS AFTER ALPHA COMPANY INDOCTRINATION)
Lieutenant Ambrose and SCPO Mendez had been escorted to this catwalk through a series of corridors and high-security biometric vaults into the bowels of the stealth cruiser Point of No Return.
The security officers had then left them standing at attention on the catwalk, and sealed the vaultlike door behind them. Below the metal grating of the catwalk, the shadows swallowed all sound.
Three meters to Kurt's left was a slightly curved white wall. No door. Beyond was Odin's Eye, the high-security conference room where he'd first been told of the SPARTAN-III program by Colonel Ackerson.
"Think this is some Section Three test?" Mendez finally whispered. "Or maybe someone doesn't like getting news about the lousy selection results for the Beta Company candidates?"
"I'm not sure," Kurt replied. "My requested upgrades for the Mark-II SPI armor