Halo_ The Fall of Reach - Eric Nylund [80]
The tac computer was having trouble tracking everything—Keyes cursed to himself over the lack of a ship AI—as the missile fire and plasma discharges strobed in the blackness. Single ships—the humans’ Longsword fighters and the flat, vaguely piscine Covenant fighters—dove, and fired, and impacted into warships. Archer missiles left trails of exhaust. Blue pulse lasers scattered inside the clouds of vented propellant and atmosphere, and cast a ghostly blue glow over the scene.
“Orders, sir?” Lovell asked nervously.
Captain Keyes paused—something felt . . . wrong. The battle was utter chaos, and it was nearly impossible to tell exactly what was happening. Sensor data was thrown off by the constant detonations and the fire of the aliens’ energy weapons.
“Scan near the planet, Lieutenant Hall,” Keyes said. “Ensign Lovell, move us closer to Sigma Octanus Four.”
“Sir?” Lieutenant Dominique said. “We’re not engaging the Covenant fleet?”
“Negative, Lieutenant.”
The bridge crew paused for a fraction of a second—all except Ensign Lovell, who tapped on the controls and plotted a new course. The bridge crew had all had a taste of being heroes in their last battle, and they wanted more. Captain Keyes knew what that was like . . . and he knew how dangerous it was.
He was not about to charge into battle, however, with theIroquois at half power, her structural integrity already compromised, and with no AI to mount a point defense against Covenant single ships. One plasma torpedo to their lower decks would gut them.
If he remained where he was and attempted to shoot into the fray, he was just as likely to accidentally hit a friendly ship as a Covenant vessel.
No. There were several damaged Covenant ships in the area. He would finish them off—make sure they could not launch any attack on their fleet. There was no glory in the action—but considering their present condition, glory was of little concern. Survival was.
Captain Keyes watched the battle rage in the starboard camera. TheLeviathan took a plasma bolt, and her foredecks burned. One Covenant ship collided with the UNSC frigateFair Weather ; the superstructures of the two craft locked together—and both ships opened fire at point-blank range. TheFair Weather detonated into a ball of nuclear fire that engulfed the Covenant destroyer. Both ships
faded from the tactical display. “Covenant ship detected in orbit around Sigma Octanus Four,” Lieutenant Hall reported. “Let me see it,” Keyes said. A small vessel appeared on-screen. It was smaller than the Covenant equivalent of a frigate . . . but
definitely larger than one of the aliens’ dropships. It was sleek and seemed to waver in and out of the blankness of space. The engine pods were baffled and devoid of the characteristic purple-white glow of Covenant propulsion systems.
“They’re in a geosynchronous orbit over Côte d’Azur,” Lieutenant Hall reported. “Their thrusters are
firing microbursts. Precision station keeping, sir, if I were to guess.” Lieutenant Dominique interrupted. “Detected scattering from a narrow-beam transmission on the planet surface, sir. A far-infrared laser.”
Captain Keyes turned toward the main battle on-screen. Was this slaughter just a diversion?
The original attack on Sigma Octanus IV had been for the sole purpose of landing ships and invading Côte d’Azur. Once accomplished, their battle group had left. And now—whatever the Covenant’s purpose was groundside, they were sending information to this
stealth ship . . . while the rest of their fleet kept the UNSC forces from interfering. “Like hell,” he muttered. “Ensign Lovell, plot a collision course for that ship.” “Aye, sir.” “Lieutenant Hall, push the engines as far as you can. I need every bit of speed you can get me.” “Yes, sir. If we vent primary coolant and use our reserve, I can boost the engine output to sixty-six
percent . . . for five minutes.” “Do it.” TheIroquois moved sluggishly toward the Covenant ship. “Intercept in twenty seconds,” Lovell said.
“Lieutenant Hikowa,