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"Enable stealth protocols," Commander Richard Lash ordered "Prepare for transition to normal space"
"Yes, sir" Lieutenant Coe officers
"External power sources off-line," he said "Lock ablative baffles Secure engine dampers"
Lieutenant Bethany Durruno at her NAV station crosschecked the calculations for the slipspace-to-normal transition "We're almost there, sir Thirty seconds"
At the OP-SENSOR station Lieutenant Joe Yang said, "Rigged for dark and silent running, sir Five points confir on the display by the captain's chair All shipshape So why did he have a feeling everything was about to hit the fan? Answer: in his short tenure as co officer of the Dusk, imminent disaster had been the norm He expected no less this time
"Go to normal space," he ordered "Start the clock"
Waters set the chrono"
Lash glanced at his old-fashioned spring-and-gear wrist-watch, a gift froraduated from OSC "Keep it wound, Son"
He checked: it was indeed wound tight
The bridge lights dimmed to red as the ship's power shunted to the Shaw-Fujikawa translight drive's particle accelerator, and it ripped a hole back into the normal three dimensions of interstellar space
The trio of blackened viewscreens sparkled with stars One point of light was unusually bright The main screen centered on this star, and astronoside Zeta Doradus Elliptical orbits traced of the six innermost planets
"Positive fix on stellar references," Lieutenant Durruno said "We're slightly off target, sir
Three million kilometers"
"Move us in," Lash ordered, "one-third full ahead on intercept course for the fourth planet Tell Lieutenant Co the Slipspace capacitors"
"Aye, sir," she said
She bit her lower lip, and Co so amiss already on this h space, black on black; only a telltale flickering of the background stars gave the slightest indication that anything was there
Waters glanced at the chronoo Barely tiather a detailed analysis"
Time was never on Commander Lash's side Either there was too much time and his creaited days or weeks stealthed or, as was now the case, they had to rush and balance gathering accurate data with re hidden It was a hell of a choice: The fate of thousands' lives and eight other ships depended on this On the other hand, if the Dusk were detected, no intel would get back Not to hteentheir toll on Lash's officers He watched Lieutenants Durruno and Yang and saw the colazed, dark-circled eyes They had endured endless waiting-- punctuated by salvos of Covenant plasma and laser fire They'd witnessed the fall of four colonies and the cree For that matter, so was he
"We have our orders," Lash told Waters "Fifteen minutes in and then we transition back
We'll do our best with the time allotted"
They had limited time for two reasons First, past fifteen rew at a statistically geometric rate Second, after fifteen roup in Slipspace would exponentially decrease
Lash sat back, and in the fine tradition of prowler co patience
The Dusk's journey back to Earth had occurred in record tiht a wake in slipstreaer then the Covenant wake they had followed
Their NAV-AI reported: SOLITON-LIKE wave patterns detected near HALO CONSTRUCT
Lash had no idea what had caused it, only reported it to Lord Hood… who had considered his report of Shpspace wakes and then immediately ordered them to attempt the same trick and follow the Spartan strike team's vector until they reached remote station Tripoli There they would rende-vous with a battle group under the command of Admiral Carl "Buster"
Patterson, provide assistance to the Spartan teaies that would turn the tide of this war
Lash had heard ru a Covenant ship, nuking its sister ship, destroying the Tallo Negro del Maiz orbital stalk in the process The stuff legends were made of
He was more than happy to stay in the shadows No vid broadcasts about his glorious death, thank you
The Dusk had had no chance at Earth to take on a full crew or resupply--instead they transitioned im wake of the Spartan-captured Covenant ship
"Maxi announced "Eight h-resolution series," Lash told hie points"
"Cohtened "Two contacts in high planetary orbit! Covenant destroyers"
Silhouettes flashed on Lash's display, confir's analysis
"Heavy destroyers," Lash h concentrated firepower to take out a dozen UNSC prowlers
Waters asked, "Could one be the Spartans' ship? We could send a narrow-band encrypted ping, sir"
"Anything is possible with Spartans," Lash said, "but it's not our job to coather data for Adic consideration"
Waters closed his eyes, thinking a moment, and finally said, "Aye, sir"
The Lieutenant Coht It was a deadly sentiment for the officer of a prowler Lash syo lost his wife and children on Harvest But stealth was their only defense against such a force Vengeance had no place on his ship
"Debris in orbit," Yang said "Metallic structures Unknown alloy composition on spectroscopic analysis"
"Recent combat?" Waters asked
"Aye, sir, residual plase to account for even one Covenant destroyer"
"Come to course zero two zero by three two five," Coines and shunt the power to recharging Slipspace capacitors"
She focused her laserlike attention on her NAV controls "Co about New trajectory set Our inertia will take us in for a tight orbit" All trace of her fatigue vanished and she tapped a rapid-fire e on her keyboard, and then replied
"Lieutenant Commander Cho reports capacitors at fifty percent They'll be hot in six e," Commander Lash told Waters
Lash forced himself to remain collected He felt like a fraud, but he had to try to maintain the illusion of confidence for the sake of his officers He would never let thee online," Waters said "Texture buffer full Four minutes on the clock"
The Dusk dove toward the twilight demarcation line of the planet The nor on her dorsal surfaces flickered with patterns of cirrostratus and lapis ocean and glowing orange sunset
"Radiologicals?" Lash asked
"No Argus-eiTect beta radiation detected in theanswered "The Spartan team has not detonated any FENRIS warheads"