Halo_ The Fall of Reach - Eric Nylund [60]
quietly. “Man your post.” Jaggers sank into his seat.
“Collision with plasma in seven seconds,” Lieutenant Hall said. She bit her lower lip. “Lieutenant Jaggers, transfer emergency thruster controls to my station.” “Yes . . . yes, sir.” The emergency thrusters were tanks of trihydride tetrazine and hydrogen peroxide. When they mixed,
they did so with explosive force—literally blasting theIroquois onto a new course. The ship had six such tanks strategically placed on hardened points on the hull. Commander Keyes consulted the countdown timer on his data pad. “Lieutenant Hikowa: fire the nuke.”
“Shiva away, sir! On course—one eight zero, maximum burn.” Plasma filled the forescreen; the center of the red mass turned blue. Greens and yellows radiated outward, the light frequencies blue-shifting in spectra.
“Distance three hundred thousand kilometers,” Lieutenant Dominique said. “Collision in two seconds.”
Commander Keyes waited a heartbeat then hit the emergency thrusters to port. A bang resonated through the ship’s hull—Commander Keyes flew sideways and impacted with the bulkhead. The view screen was full of fire and the bridge was suddenly hot. Commander Keyes stood. He counted the beats of his pounding heart. One, two, three— If they had been hit by the plasma, there wouldn’t be anything to count. They would be dead already. Only one view screen was working now, however. “Aft camera,” he said. The twin blots of fire streaked along their trajectories for a moment, then lazily arced, continuing their
pursuit of theIroquois . One pulled slightly ahead of its counterpart, so they appeared now like two
blazing eyes. Commander Keyes marveled at the aliens’ ability to direct that plasma from such a great distance. “Good,” he murmured to himself. “Chase us all the way to hell, you bastards.
“Track them,” he ordered Lieutenant Hall. “Aye, sir,” she said. Her perfectly groomed hair was tousled. “Plasma increasing velocity. Matching our speed . . . overtaking our velocity now. They will intercept in forty-three seconds.”
“Forward camera,” Commander Keyes ordered.
The view screen flashed: the image changed to show the two alien frigates turning to face the incomingIroquois head-on. Blue lights flickered along their hulls—pulse lasers charging. Commander Keyes pulled back the camera angle and saw the alien carrier and the destroyer were still
inbound toward Sigma Octanus IV. He read their position off his data pad and quickly performed the
necessary calculations. “Course correction,” he told Lieutenant Jaggers. “Come about to heading zero zero four point two five. Declination zero zero zero point one eight.”
“Aye, sir,” Jaggers said. “Zero zero four point two five. Declination zero zero zero point one eight.” The view screen turned and centered on the enormous Covenant destroyer. “Collision course!” Lieutenant Hall announced. “Impact with Covenant destroyer in eight seconds.” “Stand by for new course correction: declination minus zero zero zero point one zero.” “Aye, sir.” As Jaggers typed he wiped the sweat from his eyes and double-checked his numbers.
“Course online. Awaiting your order, sir.” “Collision with Covenant destroyer in five seconds,” Hall said. She clutched the edge of her seat. The destroyer grew in the view screen: laser turrets and launch bays, bulbous alien protrusions and
flickering blue lights.
“Hold this course,” Commander Keyes said. “Sound collision alarm. Switch to undercarriage camera now.” Klaxons blared. The view screen snapped off and on and showed black space—then a flash of the faint purple-blue hull
of a Covenant ship.
TheIroquois screeched