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"Great," Kurt replied "Let theh the breached wall
Ash's shield unit sputtered and overloaded He rolled flat to avoid getting burned
Fred and Kelly tossed grenades Distant explosions and screams echoed
Another section of wall heated… and another The Covenant weren't going to give up so easily They'd open as many holes as they needed to penetrate their defenses
"You don't understand," Endless Summer said "Once the alien forces have finished with the Covenant ships, they will focus on the lesser threat: the UNSC battle group in orbit The one sent here to rescue you"
The strategic picture instantly shifted in Kurt's roup and his Spartans were linked Save the ships and they'd have a way off this rock Fail… and they'd be stuck here fighting Sentinels and Covenant ground forces until hell froze Rescuing the other SPARTAN-IIIs in cryo would have to wait
"This Sentinel factory produces a new unit every six seconds," the AI explained "At that rate they will soon overwhelm any force the USNC can send"
"Can you find this place?" Kurt asked Dr Halsey "Can you move us there?"
She chewed on her lower lip Her hands raphic projection of the planet around the rate
"Got it," she said
Endless Summer bowed and winked off
Kurt motioned for the Spartans to fall back to the center of the room
"Do it," he said "Now"
The walls of the chamber exploded inward
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
2050 HOURS, NOVEMBER 3, 2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ZETA DORADUS SYSTEM, PLANET ONYX \ SENTINEL MANUFACTURING FACILITY UNDER NORTHERN POLAR REGION
Kurt crawled to the edge where Linda and Chief Mendez had posted, and peered out upon the vast factory, although the word "factory" holly inappropriate to describe the engineering wonderland
Froe that he detected the slight arc of the planet's curve in the distance The roof was beyond the range finder on Linda's Oracle sniper scope, and thin black clouds drifted two-thirds of the way fro
A machine the size of a battleship spewed a river of molten alloy into the air This liquefied metal arced up and then cascaded into a holloer that pulsed with bioluminescent colors Froht
These parts hisked away by ribbons of shiy so thick with distortion that Kurt couldn't see what occurred within… but fro procession of three-ht of the Great Pyrae Instead of stone blocks, however, the structure was coloith Forerunner hieroglyphs etched upon their surfaces
Every six seconds a sphere froht As it rose, the light intensified so even with maximum polarization on his faceplate Kurt could not discern what occurred there When the sphere e in null gravity, flexing, until the pieces settled into their deadly recognizable configuration-- a Sentinel of Onyx
The new drone flew off into the clouds overhead… which Kurt could only estimate were thousands of co how they were going to shut this place down, and backed away froe sat a four-raphic console: Dr Halsey's "translocation" device
She knelt in thesymbols, and occasionally tapped one that interested her
She had saved them--moved them from the map room to this Sentinel factory in the blink of an eye
Fred, Kelly, and Will crouched around the platfor would have done any good, but at least they'd see any approaching Sentinel
In front of the SPARTAN-IIs sat Ash, Holly Olivia, Mark, Torays in their caauntlets, ready to activate them to protect the others
There had been serious nausea effects during the translocation "Uncertainty errors," Dr
Halsey had called theuts had been untwisted, and then dumped back into his body, inside out
Holly had thrown up during the ride She shook her head, clearing as much of her visor as possible She didn't dare re vent that could dry the stuff, but that would take a few minutes
She moved closer to Dante and set a hand on his shoulder
The young Spartan's body lay against the wall, shrouded in a thermal blanket
Kurt looked away--it was too painful, and he was grateful that no one could see his twisted expression
"Are you certain we can't use nukes?" Kurt whispered to Dr Halsey
"The electronetic pulse will disrupt the translocation systeht s comes to completion on this world The doorway to the core room of Onyx closes Without the translocation systeies, and escape"
Fred nodded out to the factory "If those things get out, engage the UNSC fleet, and win, then we're stuck here"
Dr Halsey unfolded her laptop computer She tapped a few keys and then turned the screen to face the Spartans On the display was an overhead view of the factory "Here, here, and here," she said pointing "Take out these structures and Sentinel production will halt indefinitely"
The targets were a crystal energy e, a U-shaped object as large as a UNSC cruiser, and a titanic sphere that extended ten thousand meters under the floor
"Oh… easy," Kelly quipped
"If we use the rest of the C-12," Will said, "and a few SPNKr ht be able to shatter that crystal"
Fred shook his head "Look at theto take too hed, and said, "So we have to be in three places simultaneously, and we need ten times the firepoe currently have That's not possible"
Kurt winced at this, re is impossible for a Spartan" credo How many lives had it cost to prove that? Maybe this time they were in an intractable tactical jaram, stumped
"… Rabbit," Ash whispered
Kurt waited for an explanation, but Ash just continued to exaers "I get it!" She snorted a single laugh "Gutsy plan, kid"
Ash faced them "We can be in three places at the saot a hundred tiazed out to the factory "We're going to all be rabbits"
Ash resisted the urge to voht up Too late now, though, to back out
Oneat Dr Halsey while she raphic symbols--the next Team Saber was on the factory floor, his insides twisted around, and they were running for their lives
Froh overhead, a hundred pairs peeled off and dove after the under pipes and glowing crystalline conduits,as fast as they could Speed was the only viable tactic now
Ash spotted the target, looical feature than destructible object The pyramid of spheres stretched up forever--ently turning--all held in place by three enerators