Halo_ The Fall of Reach - Eric Nylund [131]
counterclockwise. The orbital MAC guns fired again—a streak of silver and the port Covenant vessel shattered—a split second later the starboard ship exploded, too.
But their plasma torpedoes continued toward their targets, splashing across two of the orbital defense platforms. The guns melted and collapsed into boiling molten spheres in the microgravity. Thirteen guns left, Captain Keyes thought. Not exactly a lucky number.
“Lieutenant Dominique,” he said, “request FLEETCOM to send all arriving vessels in-system to take up defense positions near our guns. The Covenant is willing to sacrifice a ship for one of our orbital guns. Advise them the Covenant ships appear to be dead in space for a few seconds after they execute a pinpoint jump.”
“Got it, sir,” Lieutenant Dominique said. “Message away.”
“Lieutenant Hikowa,” Captain Keyes said. “Send the destruction codes to those wild missiles we launched.” “Aye, sir.” “Belay that,” Captain Keyes said. Something didn’t feel right. “Lieutenant Hall, scan the region for
anything unusual.” “Scanning, sir,” she said. “There are millions of hull fragments; radar is useless. Thermal is off the charts
—everything is hot out there.” She paused, leaned closer, and a hank of her blond hair fell into her face, but she didn’t brush it aside. “Reading motiontoward Gamma station, sir. Landing pods.” “Lieutenant Hikowa,” Keyes said. “Repurpose those Archer missiles. New targets—link with Lieutenant
Hall for coordinates.” “Yes, Captain,” they said in unison. “Diversion, distraction, and deceit,” Captain Keyes said. “The Covenant’s tactics are almost getting
predictable.” A hundred pinpoints of fire dotted the distant space as their missiles found Covenant targets. “Picking up activity just out of the effective range of our orbital guns,” Cortana said. “Show me,” Captain Keyes said. The titanic Covenant vessel Keyes had seen before was back. It fired its brilliant blue-white beam—a
lance across space—that struck the destroyerHerodotus , one hundred thousand kilometers distant. The beam cut clean through the ship, stem to stern, bisecting her.
“Christ,” Ensign Lovell whispered. A salvo of orbital gun rounds fired at this new target . . . but it was too far away. The ship moved out of the trajectory of the shells. They missed.
Another beam flashed from the Covenant vessel. Another ship—a carrier, theMusashi —was severed amidships as it moved to cover the orbital guns. The aft section of the ship continued to thrust forward, her engines still running hot.
“They’re going to sniper our ships,” Keyes said. “Leave us nothing to fortify Reach.” He took out his pipe and tapped it in the palm of his hand. “Ensign Lovell. Plot an intercept course. Engines to maximum. We’re going to take that ship out.”
“Sir?” Lovell sat straighter. “Yes, sir. Plotting course now.”
Cortana appeared on the holographic display. “I assume you have another brilliant navigational maneuver to evade this enemy, Captain.” “I thought I’d fly straight in, Cortana . . . and let you do the driving.” “Straight? Youare joking.” Logic symbols streamed up her body. “I never joke when it comes to navigation,” Captain Keyes said. “You will monitor the energy state of
that ship. The instant you detect a buildup in their reactors, a spike of particle emissions—anything—
you fire our emergency thrusters to throw off their aim.” Cortana nodded. “I’ll do my best,” she said. “Their weapondoes travel at light speed. There won’t be much time to—”
A bang resonated through their port side hull. Captain Keyes flew sideways. Blue-white light flashed on their port view screen.
“One shot missed,” Cortana replied. Captain Keyes stood up and straightened his uniform. “Ready MAC gun, Lieutenant Hikowa. Arm Archer missile pods C1 through E7. Give me a firing solution for missile impact on our last MAC round.”
Lieutenant Hikowa arched an eyebrow. She had good reason to be dubious. They would be firing more than five hundred missiles at a single target. “Solution online, sir. Guns hot and ready.” “Distance,