Halo_ Ghosts of Onyx - Eric S. Nylund [98]
Kurt turned and motioned for Dr. Halsey to come along.
She strode quickly across the bridge. Kelly, Will, and Ash hurried behind her, keen for
any motion.
They entered the room, and Dr. Halsey studied the hologram.
"For lack of a better term," she said, "this is an information center." She ran her hands over the symbols on the console. "We should be able to find, ah"—she tapped a tiny flexing triangular icon—"a map."
Light exploded around Kurt. Holographic geometry flashed and zoomed to a distant perspective—and a sphere of symbols, topology lines, and shapes swelled over the console, until it touched the apex of the room.
"A map?" Kurt asked.
"Of our present location," Dr. Halsey said.
"So this building is round?" Kelly asked.
"Not precisely incorrect," Dr. Halsey replied. "We are in this building. And this building is
in this city, which is technically on this so-called planet, but that view is backward. Observe."
She rotated a golden circle symbol, and holographic structures passed though Kurt as the map expanded. A dot on the surface of the sphere magnified and resolved into lines and a grid, squares, triangles, and one circle.
The view zoomed in upon that circle and it tilted 90 degrees, showing depth, and a faceted dome with seven arches.
Dr. Halsey twisted the gold circular symbol and the focus sharpened, descending through the layers of the building, showing the landing pad, and the outline of the Covenant dropship with a blazing reactor core. Mendez and Ash appeared and tiny bio signs displayed next to them.
The view plunged deeper and the room they stood in resolved and Kurt watched himself,
the other Spartans, and Dr. Halsey.
"And back," she said as she spun the circle icon.
The room shrank to building to city and back to the large sphere construct.
The scale of it finally clicked in Kurt's mind. Once he understood, it took him a few
seconds to again speak.
"When you said the Forerunner translation for Onyx was 'shield world,'" he whispered, "that was a literal translation, wasn't it?"
"Apparently so," Dr. Halsey agreed. "The entire planet is artificial… like the Halo rings."
Something caught her attention on the console. She tapped a blue octahedron. "Could it be… ?" she whispered.
The map shifted once more, through the surface of the world, deep into the crust, and revealed a chamber full of machinery and eight oblong pods that shimmered with energy fields. Within were human bodies, translucent, their features like specters. Next to each pulsed the trace of their heartbeats.
"That's Katana," Ash said, and took a step closer. "At least five of the people in those things. They vanished in Zone 67— before this all started."
"We've got to get them out," Kurt said. "Doctor, find me a route to that location. Kelly, Ash, get the medical kits from the ship and—"
Dr. Halsey held up one hand. "One moment. Lieutenant Commander." She touched a dot.
The map of Onyx receded to a meter across and stars winked upon the map-room walls. A tiny Covenant destroyer appeared in orbit… then another… and another, until twenty-four ships had flashed into normal space from Slipspace.
Kelly muttered, "Out of the frying pan…"
Kurt's mind raced. They could still do this. Rescue Team Katana and get out of here. But they couldn't just leave and give the Covenant the technology on Onyx. There were the FENRIS warheads, but if he detonated them all it wouldn't even destroy a tiny fraction of this planet.
"We've got incoming," Fred's static-filled voice crackled over the COM. "Sentinels."
"How many?"
"Sir, all of them."
CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE
SEVENTH CYCLE, 193 UNITS (COVENANT BATTLE CALENDAR) \ ABOARD CRUISER, INCORRUPTIBLE; IN ORBIT ABOVE PLANET ONYX-SYSTEM: ZETA DORADUS (HUMAN DESIGNATION)
Fleet Master Voro stepped up to the command console on the bridge of the Incorruptible. His crew snapped to attention at his presence.
All was perfect. He controlled a fleet of the finest ships on what might be the most important mission for his people… and this would be his