Halo_ The Fall of Reach - Eric Nylund [57]
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Commander Keyes switched back to the silhouette from theArchimedes report. The leading edge almost looked like the bulbous head of a whale. That realization chilled him to the core.
He quickly opened the UNSC database of all known Covenant ships. He scanned them until he found the three-dimensional representation of one of their medium-sized warships. He rotated it into three-quarters profile. He overlaid the image on the silhouette, scaled it back a little.
It was a perfect match.
“Lieutenant Dominique, get FLEETCOM ASAP. Priority Alpha.”
The Lieutenant snapped straight in his chair. “Yes, sir!”
The bridge officers looked at the Commander then exchanged glances with one another.
Commander Keyes brought up a map of the system on his data pad. The silhouette monitored by the outpost was on a direct course for Sigma Octanus IV. That confirmed his theory. “Bring us about to course zero four seven, Lieutenant Jaggers. Lieutenant Hall, push the reactors to one
hundred ten percent.” “Aye, Commander,” Lieutenant Jaggers replied. “Reactor running hot, sir,” Hall reported. “Now exceeding recommended operational parameters.” “ETA?” Jaggers calculated, then looked up. “Forty-three minutes,” he replied. “Too slow,” Commander Keyes muttered. “Reactor to one hundred thirty percent, Lieutenant Hall.” She hesitated. “Sir?” “Do it!” “Yes, sir!” She moved as if someone had electrically shocked her. “FLEETCOM online, sir,” Lieutenant Dominique said. The weathered face of Admiral Michael Stanforth appeared on the main view screen. Commander Keyes breathed a sigh of relief. Admiral Stanforth had a reputation for being reasonable
and intelligent. He’d understand the logic of the situation.
“Commander Keyes,” the Admiral said. “The old ‘Schoolmaster’ himself, huh? This is the priority channel, son. This better be an emergency.” Commander Keyes ignored the obvious condescension. He knew many at FLEETCOM thought he
deserved to command nothing but a classroom—and some probably thought he didn’t deserve that. “The Sigma Octanus System is about to come under attack, sir.” Admiral Stanforth cocked an eyebrow and leaned closer to the screen.
“I’m requesting that all ships in-system rendezvous with theIroquois at Sigma Octanus Four. And any ships in neighboring systems make best speed here.”
“Show me what you’ve got, Keyes,” the Admiral said. Commander Keyes displayed the silhouette from the sensor outpost first. “Covenant ships, sir. Their silhouettes are overlapped. Our probes resolve them as one mass because Slipspace is bent by gravity more easily than normal space.”
The Admiral listened to his analysis, frowning. “You’ve fought the Covenant, sir. You known how precisely they can maneuver their ships through the
Slipstream. I’ve seen a dozen alien craft appear in normal space, in perfect formation, not a kilometer apart.” “Yeah,” the Admiral muttered. “I’ve seen that, too. All right, Keyes, good work. You’ll get everything
we can send.” “Thank you, sir.” “You just hang in there, son. Good luck. FLEETCOM out.” The view screen snapped off. “Sir?” Lieutenant Hall turned around. “How many Covenant ships?” “I’d estimate four medium-tonnage vessels,” he said. “The equivalent of our frigates.” “FourCovenant ships?” Lieutenant Jaggers muttered. “What canwe do?” “Do?” Commander Keyes said. “Our duty.” “Begging the Commander’s pardon, but there arefour Cov—” Jaggers began to protest. Keyes cut him off with a glare. “Stow that, mister.” He paused, weighing his words. “Sigma Octanus
Four has seventeen million citizens, Lieutenant. Are you suggesting that we just stand by and watch the Covenant glass the planet?” “No, sir.” His gaze dropped to the deck.
“We will do the best we can,” Commander Keyes said. “In the meantime, remove all weapons system locks, order missile crews to readiness, warm up the MAC guns, and remove the safeties from one of our nukes.”
“Yes, sir!” Lieutenant Hikowa said.
An alarm sounded at ops. “Reactor hysteresis approaching failure levels,” Lieutenant Hall reported.