Halo_ The Fall of Reach - Eric Nylund [61]
“Aye, sir.” There was a brief burn from the thrusters and theIroquois nudged down slightly. “Hull breach!” Lieutenant Hall said. “Sealing pressure doors.” “Aft camera,” Commander Keyes said. “Guns: Fire aft Archer missile pods!” “Missiles away,” Lieutenant Hikowa replied. Keyes watched as the first of the plasma torpedoes that had been trailing theIroquois impacted on the
prow of the alien destroyer. The ship’s shields flared, flickered . . . and vanished. The second bolt hit a moment later. The hull of the alien ship blazed and then turned red-hot, melted, and boiled. Secondary explosions burst through the hull.
The Archer missiles streaked toward the wounded Covenant ship, tiny trails of exhaust stretching from theIroquois to the target. They slammed into the gaping wounds in the hull and detonated. Fire and debris burst from the destroyer.
A smile spread across Keyes’ face as he watched the alien ship burn, list, and slowly plunge into Sigma Octanus IV’s gravity well. Without power, the Covenant vessel would burn up in the planet’s atmosphere.
Commander Keyes flicked on the intercom. “Brace for emergency thruster maneuver.”
He punched the thruster controls—explosive force detonated on the starboard side of the ship. TheIroquois nosed toward Sigma Octanus IV. “Course correction, Lieutenant Jaggers,” he said. “Bring us into a tight orbit.” “Aye, sir.” He furiously tapped in commands, diverting engine output through attitude thrusters. The hull of theIroquois glowed red as it entered the atmosphere. A cloud of yellow ionization built up
around the view screen. Commander Keyes gripped the railing tighter. The view screen cleared and he could see the stars. TheIroquois entered the dark side of the planet. Commander Keyes slumped forward and started breathing again.
“Engine coolant failure, sir,” Lieutenant Hall said. “Shut the engines down,” he ordered. “Emergency vent.” “Aye, sir. Venting fusion reactor plasma.” TheIroquois was abruptly quiet. No rumble of her engines. And no one said anything until Lieutenant
Hikowa stood and said, “Sir, that was the most brilliant maneuver I have ever seen.” Commander Keyes gave a short laugh. “You think so, Lieutenant?” If one of his students had proposed such a maneuver in his tactics class, he would have given them a C+.
He would have told them their maneuver was full of bravado and daring . . . but extremely risky, placing
the crew in the ship in unnecessary danger. “This isn’t over yet. Stay sharp,” he told them. “Lieutenant Hikowa what is the charge status of the MAC guns?”
“Capacitors at ninety-five percent, sir, and draining at a rate of three percent per minute.” “Ready MAC guns, one heavy round apiece. Arm all forward Archer missile pods.” “Aye, sir.” TheIroquois broke free of the dark side of Sigma Octanus IV. “Fire chemical thrusters to break orbit, Lieutenant Hall.” “Firing, aye.” There was a brief rumble. The screen centered on the backsides of the two Covenant frigates they had
passed on the way in. The alien ships started to come about; blue flashes flickered along their hulls as their laser turrets
charged. Motes of red collected along their lateral lines. They were readying another salvo of plasma torpedoes. There was something there, however, that was too small to see on the view screen: the nuke. Keyes had
launched that missile in the opposite direction—but its reverse thrust had not completely overcome their tremendous forward velocity.
As theIroquois had screamed over the prow of the destroyer, and as they orbited Sigma Octanus IV, the nuke had drifted closer to the frigates . . . who had fixed their attention solidly on theIroquois .
Commander Keyes tapped his data pad and sent the signal to detonate the bomb. There was a flash of white, a crackle of lightning, and the alien ships vanished as a cloud of destruction enveloped them. Waves of the EMP interacted with the