Halo_ The Fall of Reach - Eric Nylund [62]
Both Covenant frigates, however, were still intact. Their shields, however, flickered once . . . then went dead. “Get me firing solutions for the MAC guns, Lieutenant Hikowa. On the double.” “Aye, sir. MAC gun capacitors at ninety-three percent. Firing solution online.” “Fire, Lieutenant Hikowa.” Two thumps resonated through the hull of theIroquois . “Lock remaining Archer missile pods on targets and fire.” “Missiles away, Commander.”
Twin thunderbolts and hundreds of missiles streaked toward the two helpless frigates. The MAC rounds tore though them—one ship was holed from nose to tail; the other ship was hit on her midline, right near the engines. Internal explosions chained up the length of the ship, bulging the second ship’s hull along her length.
Archer missiles impacted seconds later, exploding through chunks of hull and armor, tearing the alien ships apart. The frigate that had taken the MAC round in her engines mushroomed, a fireworks bouquet of shrapnel and sparks. The other ship burned, her internal skeletal structure showing now; she turned toward theIroquois but didn’t fire a weapon . . . just drifted out of control. Dead in space.
“Position of the Covenant carrier, Lieutenant Hall?” Lieutenant Hall paused, then reported, “In polar orbit around Sigma Octanus Four. But she’s moving off at considerable speed. Headed out-system, course zero four five.”
“Alert theAllegiance andGettysburg of her position.”
Commander Keyes sighed and slumped back into his chair. They had stopped the Covenant ships from glassing the planet—saved millions of lives. They had done the impossible: taken on four Covenant ships and won.
Commander Keyes paused in his self-congratulation. Something was wrong. He had never seen the Covenant run. In every battle he had seen or read about, they stayed to slaughter every last survivor . . . or if they were defeated, they always fought to the last ship.
“Check the planet,” he told Lieutenant Hall. “Look for anything—dropped weapons, strange transmissions. There’s got to be something there.”
“Aye, sir.”
Keyes prayed she wouldn’t find anything. At this point he was out of tricks. He couldn’t turn theIroquois around and return to Sigma Octanus IV even if he had wanted to. TheIroquois ’ engines were down for a long time. They were speeding on an out-system vector at a considerable velocity. And even if they could stop—there was no way to recharge the MAC guns, and no remaining Archer missiles. They were practically dead in space.
He pulled out his pipe and steadied his shaking hand.
“Sir!” Lieutenant Hall cried. “Dropships, sir. The alien carrier deployed thirty—correction: thirty-four— dropships. I have silhouettes descending to the surface. They’re on course for Côte d’Azur. A major population center.”
“An invasion,” Commander Keyes said. “Get FLEETCOM ASAP. Time to send in the Marines.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
0600 Hours, July 18, 2552 (Military Calendar) / UNSCIroquois , military staging area in orbit around Sigma Octanus IV
Commander Keyes had a sinking feeling that although he had won the battle, it would be the first of many to come in the Sigma Octanus System.
He watched the four dozen other UNSC ships orbit the planet: frigates and destroyers, two carriers, and a massive repair and refitting station—more vessels than Admiral Cole had at his disposal during his four-year-long campaign to save Harvest. Admiral Stanforth had pulled out all the stops.
Although Commander Keyes was grateful for the quick and overwhelming response, he wondered why the Admiral had dedicated so many ships to the area. Sigma Octanus wasn’t strategically positioned. It had no special resources. True, the UNSC had standing orders to protect civilian lives, but the fleet was spread dangerously thin. Commander Keyes knew there were more valuable systems that needed protection.
He pushed these thoughts aside. He was sure Admiral Stanforth