Halo_ Ghosts of Onyx - Eric S. Nylund [92]
Kelly looked up to Kurt's position and activated her single beam. "I see it," she said. "Two
khcks away. I'm going to tap its shoulder."
"Go, Blue Two," he said. "Keep your head."
Kurt held up a hand, made a fist, and pumped it twice—the "get ready" signal for the rest
of the team. Kelly took a shot at the drone pair with her MAB5—an impossible target with an assault
rifle, but it wasn't meant to hit, just to get the thing's attention.
The Sentinel turned to the report of gunfire and accelerated toward her.
Will reported over single beam: "Overwatch spotted, eleven o'clock, elevation twenty-four
hundred meters. Wind is three knots from the northwest."
Kurt relayed this to Linda.
Her status light wavered amber as she made a slight adjustment in her position, angling
her rifle up, and then frozen. On
either side, Tom and Lucy hefted missile launchers, waiting for her order to fire.
Meanwhile, the combined Sentinel pair plunged toward Kelly.
She stood there, watching it.
Holly moved close to Kurt, her assault rifle uselessly aimed at the incoming drone. "Is
she fast enough?"
"Kelly's the fastest Spartan," Kurt whispered.
That didn't answer her question, though: was she fast enough. Kurt didn't know.
The Sentinel pair was half a kilometer away. One of the spheres heated and light
flashed. Kelly took three sidesteps as the ground where she had been standing vaporized.
Globules of molten rock spattered off her MJOLNIR armor's energy shield.
She made an ancient and arcane gesture at the machine with one finger.
Mark joined Holly and Kurt. "No way," he breathed.
Kelly turned and ran, leaving a plume of dust in her wake.
The diving Sentinels accelerated to two hundred kilometers an hour. A golden lance flashed from its center of mass— detonating the earth under her feet.
Kelly tucked into a ball, tumbled, and came up running without breaking stride.
She sprinted straight into the tunnel.
The Sentinels' hexagonal geometry fluttered along its drive trajectory. A mere five meters over the gravel wash and screaming toward the tunnel—it had no time to pull up.
It chased her down the hole.
Kelly appeared silhouetted at the mouth, golden illumination blazing behind her—
—and the tunnel exploded.
Cones of fire shot out both ends. The superheated overpressure wave blurred the image of Kelly as she was propelled through the air, end over end.
The hill collapsed, and a hundred tons of earth crushed the Sentinel pair. Sand, stone, and dust blasted out in feathery jets.
Kelly's body impacted a rock wall, and fell limp to the gravel wash.
Kurt signaled Team Saber to get down there and help. He wanted to rush to her side as well, but he had to stay here and ensure the long-shot part of their operation succeeded. Or, failing that, devise a retreat.
Linda was still locked in place, tracking the overwatch Sentinel. Tom and Lucy knelt on either side, missiles ready.
Kurt squinted along the angle of their aim. Hanging in the air, over two kilometers away, was a single dot, their target.
They had to get it or the Sentinel would report their position and send for reinforcements… which wouldn't fall for this trick again.
"Target off-center, starboard boom," Linda whispered to Lucy and Tom. "Forward point,"
They adjusted their aims. "Locked on target," Tom replied.
"Fire," Linda said softly.
Twin plumes of exhaust washed over them as the missiles screamed into the air.
The overwatch Sentinel turned toward the incoming projectiles and its energy shield shimmered golden.
Linda's rifle muzzle flashed. Without seeming to move a molecule she fired until the magazine was empty.
The missiles impacted—smoke and flames ballooned about the Sentinel.
A heartbeat later, the winds blew the discharge cloud aside… the Sentinel jerked, and plummeted.
Linda got to her feet.
The Sentinel scattered as it fell, center sphere and three booms spinning out of control until they impacted.
"Go," he told them. "Make sure it's dowm."
Kurt didn't waste another second on the Sentinel; he turned