Page 21 (2/2)

"There's only one thing it could be," Lash answered "A Covenant civil war"

SECTION V

BLUE TEAM

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

1550 HOURS, NOVEMBER 3, 2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR] \ SOL SYSTEM, PLANET EARTH \ CARIBBEAN OCEAN, NEAR CUBAN COAST

Blue Team--SPARTANS-104, -058, and -043--sat on the blood tray of the Pelican as it roared over the ocean, ski a few meters over the water The aft hatch was lowered, jammed open because a plasma shot had melted the hydraulics Fred watched the jets chum the water behind them, happy to be above the water instead of under it

In the last teeks Blue Teaee ops to repel the Covenant ships in orbit over the Earth They had then been dispatched to Mount Erebus in the Antartic where they neutralized a Covenant excavation with a HAVOK tactical nuke

They had then redeployed off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula for a swi the seafloor for soical sample--no one knew, and it didn't ot what they wanted, the Covenant then his-lorically glassed the planet to remove any human "infestation"

Blue Team had stopped both operations

Fred looked over the ocean and wondered how long they could keep the Covenant at bay in space His gaze dropped to the corrugated floor of the Pelican It had lived up to its nicknaealed dark red Good soldiers had died today

On his heads-up display the TACMAP showed the edge of Cuba ahead Fred exhaled and cleared his et: the Centennial Orbital Elevator

There had been scattered reports that the Covenant had invaded the facility… before all contact with COE Control had been lost

Fred stood and stretched Linda and Will rose as well, sensing their brief downtime was over

Linda opened one of the crates they had obtained froundo Terra near Mexico City Within was a new SRS99C sniper rifle She disseraphite lubricant, and reasseun with mechanical precision She then examined the Oracle N-variant scope that had accompanied the rifle, and made microadjustments with a fine set of screwdrivers

Williaazines, sorting the carrier" box and divided up fragrenades into three satchels

He found an ONI datapad and turned it on It had new Covenant-English translation matrices and the latest ONI intrusion and counterintrusion software Updates courtesy of Cor-tana He tossed it into his bag

In the cockpit Sergeant Laura "Sins, fiddled with the COM, trying to filter though the reports of the action in space and on the ground Tanner popped a black bubble and continued to chew the contraband tobacco guins, "In Aoes after the damned Covenant battleship as it did an in-atmosphere Slipspace jump! Flattened New Mombassa I don't knohat those split-chinned freaks were after, but they sure didn't stick around after they found it--that's all I heard CENTCOM channels are dropping off line That can't be good"

Fred looked to Linda and Will

Linda esture

They couldn't worry about the larger strategic picture They had to stay focused on their part Secure the orbital elevator, and win this war one battle at a time

Fred spied the Cuban coast ahead: surf and white sands

The Pelican screale Fifty kiloround to clouds: the UNSC Centennial Orbital Elevator, or as the locals called it: Tallo Negro del Maiz, the "stalk of black corn"

It o hundred years old, antiquated but one of the few surviving OEs capable of heavy lifting on Earth In the last teeks, nuclear devices slated for conversion to peaceful purposes had been transported to Cuba Recent actions had depleted the UNSC nuclear stockpile, and these older, low-yield boeant Tanner continued, "So then the Covenant fleet really starts to tear into the orbital defenses It's getting ugly up there Major skirmishes with the Second, Seventh, and Sixteenth Fleets"

"… Just as long as the plasins replied

Tanner stopped chewing her gum "Multiple silhouettes ahead Banshee fliers Whoa--"

She craned her head, looking up

Fred aze Up the orbital elevator, past a whisper haze of clouds, a pair of dots-- each a kilo Covenant ship--orbited

"What the hell are they doing up there?" Tanner whispered

Covenant orbital support coht have aerial support, heavy armor, or artillery But Covenant didn't need the stalk to transport an invasion force They'd just land their ships or use grav beams Why were they here? Blue Team would have to move in closer before he could discern their es "There's a hole in the Banshee patrol pattern" He tapped the far edge of the screen "Put us down here We'll go in by foot"

"Your call," Tanner said dubiously She pushed the throttle and the Pelican accelerated, dropping so it now decapitated palm trees

"Make ready for hot drop, Spartans" She spun the Pelican around and sank into the jungle "Call if you need a lift Blue Teaear and juround

The Pelican roared away

Fred pointed northeast and they h the tropical brush, and entered the shadow of Tallo Negro del Maiz

A half kilole had been cleared and replaced by concrete, asphalt, and warehouses Towering freight container cranes stood instead of coconut trees

Fred heard the dull pounding steps of a Covenant Scarab attack platforh a warehouse, tearing steel walls like tissue paper

"Trouble," he muttered over TEAMCOM

"Opportunity," Will countered

Linda kept her comments to herself and methodically wrapped the barrel of her new sniper rifle with brown and green rags She lay in the scrub, powered on her Oracle scope, and sighted down its length

"UNSC personnel down," she reported "Ther out six--no, a dozen Covenant o pods Not Elites Brutes"

Fred paused, reorillalike creatures frole Brute had wrestled John in his MJOLNIR ar Covenant Hunters, but Hunters only ca?" Fred asked

She shifted her sight "Elevator They've got an ascent car half full"

"Switch to neutron detector," Fred suggested

Linda twisted a dial on the Oracle scope "Cargo pods are hot," she confirmed

"Nukes?" Will said "Covenant don't use nukes They have an edict about using 'heretic' weapons"

He was right Fred had seen Elites, their weapons depleted of charge, die rather than touch fully loaded UNSC assault rifles at their feet