Halo_ The Fall of Reach - Eric Nylund [137]
There were some startling similarities—along with a number of differences. Cortana reanalyzed the symbols and accounted for thousands of years of stellar drift.
A tenth of a second later she had a close match on her charts—86.2 percent.
Interesting. Perhaps the markings in the rock recovered on Sigma Octanus IV were navigation symbols, albeit highly unusual and stylized ones—mathematical symbols as artistic and elegant as Chinese calligraphy.
What was there that the Covenant wanted so badly that they had launched a full offensive against Sigma Octanus IV? Whatever it was . . . Cortana was interested, too.
She compared the new NAV coordinates with her directives and was pleased with what she saw; the new course complied with the Cole Protocol. Good.
The Covenant frigates fired their plasma again. Seven bolts of fire streaked toward thePillar of Autumn .
She dumped the coordinates to the NAV controls and stored the logic path that led to her deduction in her high-security buffer.
“Approaching saturation velocity,” she told Captain Keyes. “Powering Shaw-Fujikawa Translight generators. New course available.”
The Covenant frigates aligned with their outbound vector. They were going to try to follow thePillar of Autumn through Slipspace. Damn.
The Shaw-Fujikawa Translight generators tore a hole in normal space. Light boiled around thePillar of Autumn and she vanished.
Cortana had plenty of time to think on the journey. Most of the crew were frozen in cryo for the trip. Some of the engineers had elected to try to repair the main reactor. A futile gesture . . . but she lent them a few cycles to try to rebuild the convection inductor.
Had Dr. Halsey been on Reach when it fell to the Covenant? Cortana felt a pang of regret for her creator. Maybe she had gotten away. The probability was low . . . but the doctor was a survivor.
Cortana ran a self-diagnostic. Her Alpha-level commands were intact. She had not jeopardized her primary mission by following this vector. There were, unfortunately, sure to be Covenant ships when they arrived . . . wherever they arrived.
The Covenant had followed them into Slipstream space. And they had always been faster and more accurate than UNSC navigators in the elusive dimension.
Captain Keyes and the Master Chief would get their chance to disable and capture one of those vessels.
Their “luck” had so far defied all probability and statistical variations. She hoped their defiance of the odds continued.
“Captain Keyes? Wake up, sir,” Cortana said. “We will enter normal space in three hours.” Captain Keyes sat up in the cryo tube. He licked his lips and gagged. “I hate that stuff.” “The inhalant surfactant is highly nutritious, sir. Please regurgitate and swallow the protein complex.” Captain Keyes swung his legs out of the tube. He coughed and spat the mucus onto the deck. “You
wouldn’t say that, Cortana, if you ever tasted this stuff. Ship status?” “Reactor two has been fully repaired,” she replied. “Reactors one and three are inoperable. That gives us twenty percent power. Archer missile pods I and J rows serviceable. Autocannon ammunition at ten
percent. Our two remaining Shiva warheads are intact.” She paused and double-checked the MAC gun. “Magnetic Accelerator Gun’s capacitors depolarized. We cannot fire the system, sir.” “More good news,” he grumbled. “Continue.” “Hull breaches patched—but the majority of decks eleven, twelve, and thirteen are destroyed—that
includes the Spartans’ weapons locker.” “Are there any infantry weapons left?” Keyes asked. “We may need to repel boarders.” “Yes, Captain. A substantial number of standard Marine infantry weapons survived the engagement.
Would you like an inventory?” “Later. What about the crew?” “All crew accounted for. Spartan 117 is in cryo sleep with the Marine and security personnel. Waking
bridge officers and all essential personnel.” “And the Covenant?” “We’ll know in a moment if they were able to track us, sir.” “Very well. I’ll be on the bridge in ten minutes.” He eased out of the tube. “I’m getting too damn old to