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An ien- erated an interrupt coned to make her stop and re- think her decisions But Cortana kneas either kill or be killed She rerouted all signals from her ethics routine and shut it down She couldn't afford to be slowed down by such secondary considerations

"Chief," she whispered over the COM "Be advised that the passages I'er contain ations will be lethal to the rest of your team"

There was a three-second pause, and then the Chief replied, "Understood"

Cortana's decryption of the Covenant co the "holy one" finally cycled to a halt The language in them was unusually ornate--evenElites It was ileaned that sonitary was due at the Halo construct Soon

This visitor was so i party More ships were on their way Hun- dreds of them

"Chief," Cortana said "We may have a prob--"

"Hold transmission, Cortana," the Chief interrupted "We're outside the coative They have disabled the bridge sensors," she replied

"You heard Cortana," the Chief said, addressing his coeant, you and Locklear: Get in position"

"Roger that," Sergeant Johnson whispered "In position and ready to kick Covenant ass"

"We're about to blow the door on this end, Cortana Stand by"

Cortana picked up energy surges on the flagship's lateral sen- sors The Covenant cruisers turned; their plasma weapons warmed and readied to fire

"Chief," Cortana said "Hurry!"

"Plasrenades on my mark," the Chief said on the COM

"Mark! Toss therenades They burned nesium-brilliant and adhered to the heavy alloy of the bulk- head doors that encased the bridge--one of the alien weapons' more useful properties He e and shielded Haverson and Polaski

Five seconds elapsed, and a flash filled the hallway The Chief renade had detonated but were otherwise unharh these doors--but when Covenant plasrenades detonated, they disrupted electronics and shielding The Chief dug his gauntleted fingers into the door crack--hoping that the disruption had knocked out thethese doors closed

He braced himself and tried to pull the doors apart at the searound to a halt The Chief adjusted his footing and strained at theain, but the doors remained frozen in place

The Chief's --there was movement directly on the other side of the door

He shoved theand squeezed the trigger Spent shell casings clattered to the floor

A howl echoed froh the crack

The Chief slung his rifle, grabbed the doors, flexed, pulled-- and this time the heavy metal moved

A flash of plasnored it, closed his eyes, and continued to force his way through the door Another plasma shot struck hiood enough

He rolled to the side and gave his shields aThe suit's alar spots that swae report--the MJOLNIR's internal terees Celsius, and the Chief heard the whine ofto co fire!"

"Hell yes, Master Chief," Locklear replied Locklear dropped to one knee and fired through the opening; Johnson stood and fired over the younger Marine's head

The Chief rebooted his shielding control software

Nothing His shield syste stopped "I'm out," Locklear said

"And I'm in," the Chief said

• He rushed into the room and stepped over the dead Elite on the floor before him Its torso had been ripped open--shot as it tried to hold the doors closed

The Chief scanned the room It was circular, twenty meters across, with a raised platfored with holographic control surfaces The central platform floated over a pit in the floor Within the pit were ex- ploded optical conduits and a trio of Covenant Engineers, cow- ering in fear

"Don't shoot the Engineers," Cortana warned "We need thee that order, Locklear"

There was a pause over COM and then Locklear said, "Roger"

Along the circular walls, floor-to-ceiling displays showed the flagship's status as a variety of charts and graphs, peppered with the odd calligraphy of the Covenant They also showed the space surrounding the in

The Chief caught a motion in his peripheral vision: An Elite in jet-black ar ca a challenge

The Chief's rifle snapped up, and he squeezed the trigger

Three rounds spat from the muzzle, then the bolt locked open

The ammo counter read oo--e; a lucky round pene- trated and deformed its shoulder Purple-black blood spattered on the deck, but it shrugged off the wound and kept coed into the room and leveled his pistol "Hold it!" he yelled, and thumbed off the weapon's safety

The Elite drew a plasma pistol and fired at the Lieutenant-- but never took its eyes off the Chief

Haverson cursed and scrae slashed at hirip on the rifle and crouched in a low fighting stance Even with the shield le Elite

The Elite removed its helmet and dropped it The plasma pistol clattered to the deck a moment later It leaned forward, and its uessed had to be a sy flashed to life in its hands

The Elite raised the energy blade and charged

CHAPTER EIGHT

1802 hours, September 22,2552 (Military Calendar) \ Aboard unidentified Covenant flagship, uncharted syste energy blade slashed at him He dived toward the Elite and slammed the butt of his rifle into the alien's ht the rifle butt down to smash the alien's skull-- But the Elite rolled back There was a blur of y blade lashed out and neatly bisected the assault rifle The two halves of the wrecked MA5B clattered to the deck