Halo_ The Fall of Reach - Eric Nylund [85]
On their left arms they hefted large shields, thick as starship battleplate. Mounted on their right arms were massive, wide-barreled weapons, so large that the arm beneath seemed to blend into the weapon.
They moved with slow deliberation. One took a rock from the display case and set it inside a red metal case. It bent over the case while the other turned and touched the control panel of a device that looked like a small pulse laser turret. The laser pointed straight up—and out through the shattered glass dome overhead.
That had been the source of the infrared radiation. The laser must have intermittently scattered off the dust in the air—flashed enough energy into his sensors to burn them out. Something that powerful could beam a message straight out into space.
The Master Chief made a slow fist—the signal for his team to freeze. Then, with slow, deliberate movements, he signaled the Spartans to stay alert and get ready.
He waved Fred and Kelly forward.
Fred crept closer to him. Kelly slid up next to James.
The Master Chief then held up two fingers and made a sideways cut, motioning them into the room.
Acknowledgment lights winked on.
He went in first, sidestepped to the right, with Fred at his side.
James and Kelly took the left flank.
They opened fire.
Armor-piercing rounds pinged off the aliens’ body armor. One of them turned and brought its shield in front of it—covering its partner, the red case, and the laser beacon.
The Spartan bullets didn’t even leave a scratch on the armor. The alien raised its arm slightly and pointed at Kelly and James. A flash of light blinded the Master Chief. There was a deafening explosion and a wave of heat. He
blinked for a full three seconds before he recovered his vision.
Where Kelly and James had been there was a burning crater that fanned backward . . . nothing but charcoal and ash remained of the Science Chamber behind them. Kelly had moved in time; she crouched five meters deeper into the room, still firing. James was nowhere
to be seen. The other massive creature turned to face the Master Chief. He hit the button on the shield generator on his arm and brought it up just in time—the nearest alien’s
weapon flashed again.
The air in front of the Master Chief shimmered and exploded—he flew backward, crashing through the wall, and skidded for ten meters before slamming into the wall of the next room. The Jackal shield generator was white-hot. The Master Chief ripped the melted alien device off and
threw it away.
Those plasma bolts were like nothing he had seen before. They seemed almost as powerful as the stationary plasma cannons the Jackals used. The Master Chief sprang to his feet and charged back into the chamber. If the aliens’ weapons were similar to Covenant plasma guns, they would need to be recharged. He
hoped the Spartans had enough time to take those things out.
The Master Chief still felt the fear—it was stronger than it had been before . . . but his team was still in there. He had to take care of them first before he could indulge in the luxury of feelings. Kelly and Fred circled the creatures, their silenced weapons firing quick bursts. They ran out of
ammunition and switched clips. This wasn’t working. They couldn’t take them out. Maybe a Jackhammer missile at point-blank range would penetrate their armor.
The Master Chief’s gaze was drawn to the center of the room. He stared for a moment at the monolith of
pink quartz. Over the COM channel he ordered, “Switch to shredder rounds.” He changed ammunition and then opened fire—at the floor underneath the enormous creatures’ feet.
Kelly and Fred changed rounds and fired, too. Marble tiles shattered and the wood underneath splintered into toothpicks. One of the creatures raised its arm again, preparing to fire. “Keep shooting,” John yelled. The floor creaked, buckled, and then fell away; the two massive aliens plunged into the basement below. “Quick,” the Master Chief said. He slung his rifle and moved to the back of the quartz monolith. “Push!” Kelly and Fred leaned their