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"The Spartans," Hood whispered "Doctor Halsey

Whit-coood people on Reach Not to mention dozens of ships" He pursed his lips into a razor-thin line

"We should send a sested

"Not wise, sir," Ackerson replied "We must pull back and reinforce the Inner Colonies and Earth The new orbital platforms won't be online for another ten days Until then, our defense pos- ture will be far too weak We'll need every ship we've got"

"Hmm," Admiral Hood said He placed both thumbs under his chin as he considered both positions

"Sir," Wagner said "There is one additional item not covered in my report It didn't see a recon ht be pertinent"

"Just spit it out," General Strauss said

Wagner sed and resisted the urge to meet Ackerson's eyes "When the Covenant destroys a planet, they typically e warships closer and blanket the world with a series of crisscrossing orbits to ensure that every square millimeter of the surface is covered with plasma bombardments"

"I'm painfully aware of Covenant borowled "What of it?"

"As I indicated, they started at the poles, but took in only a few ships They were spread thin along the equatorial latitudes, and no additional ships were inbound In fact, a large number of Covenant ships abandoned the system, in pursuit of the Pillar of Autulassed, Lieutenant If you had stayed to watch the whole show, they would have burned you down, too"

"Yes, sir," Wagner replied "If, however, there is a recon ot up and strode to Wagner He stood a centiaze was full of poison Wagner did his best not to recoil, but he couldn't help it

One look and he knew this man wanted him dead--for whatever reason: that he had heard of Ackerson's alternative program to the SPARTAN-IIs, that he didn't want trouble over Reachorfor someone's head to impale on a pike

"Are you deaf, Lieutenant?" Ackerson asked withloss due to combat action?"

"No, sir"

"Well, when you push the limits of Slipspace in those little Prowlers, you risk all kinds of radiation da Reach destroyed shook you Whatever your problem, when you leave here you are to visit the infirive you a clean bill of health before you return to active duty" He shrugged "Therewith you, Lieutenant, because you do not seeh my words are crystal clear"

"Sir"

"Let's try this, then We are not wasting a single UNSC ship to confirone"

He inched closer to Wagner "Everything on it is blasted to bits, burned, glassed over, and vaporized Everyone on Reach is dead" He jabbed a finger into Wagner's chest for emphasis

"Dead Dead Dead"

SECTION 2

DEFENSE OF CASTLE BASE

CHAPTER TWELVE

0744 hours, August 30,2552 (Military Calendar)\Epsilon Eridani systeo

Steamy clouds parted like a drawn curtain; a fireball one hun- dred meters across roared over Fred and Kelly's position Fred traced the line of flah the sky and spotted the faint outlines of dozens of Covenant warships in low orbit

Fred's Banshee skimmed over the treetops, down the mountain- side He pushed the craft to its maximum speed Kelly followed, and they swooped into a valley and up onto the zigzagging ridge-line where Joshua had first spotted the Covenant invasion force

He put aside thoughts of his fallen co tea system on his heads-up display A blue NAV ical lines, identi- fied their fallback position: ONI Section Three's secure-and-secret research facility buried under Menachite Mountain Two decades ago it had been a titaniue until Section Three had taken over the mountain for their own purposes

"We'll need to find a safe route through--"

A hail of purple-white crystalline shards hissed through the air, arcing up from the forest beneath them Each shard looked like the projectile fired by a Covenant needier--but far larger

The shard that slashed past Fred's cockpit was the size of his foreared one projectile, which exploded in e

One tiny secondary fragment impaled Fred's Banshee and detonated The port canard of his flier deformed from the explo- sion, and the craft wobbled

"Down!" he shouted, but Kelly was already a dozento a distant dry riverbed He fol- lowed, trailing suided his wounded Banshee onto a course that followed the flash-dried riverbed below The path wound through the forest, and sinewed close to Menachite Mountain With luck, they could ditch the Banshees and erine borealis pulsed from the north Sheets of silver crackled across the sky, and the black clouds boiled, lit by the raging fires beneath the

The o ac- celerated back into the upper at wakes across the swollen sky

For a split second panic seized Fred's throat Then his training kicked in and his h every fact he had on Covenant plasht

So didn't fit Covenant plasma bo pattern across a planet until every square centilass and cinder The ships above hadn't finished their work here

He risked a glance to the left and right One hundred thousand hectares of forest--the same forest that Fred and his fellow Spartans had trained in since childhood--was being devoured by walls of flame Coils of heat and thick black smoke spiraled into the sky

A wave passed over Fred and Kelly--he couldn't see it, but he felt it: A thousand ants had gotten into his armor and bitten him Static fuzzed his display, and then vanished with apop His shields dropped to zero and then slowly started to recharge The grav pods on their fliers flickered and sputtered

"EMP," Kelly shouted over the COM "Or so," Fred ordered

Kelly made an unhappy sound over the COM and snapped it off

They plu hat little aero- dynamics and power remained in their Banshees Fred nosed his craft over the stea rocks of the dry riverbed He picked a path between boulders and jagged granite fangs, pointed toward a ribbon of gravel

There was just one problehtly darker than the othersand they e and heavily armored and moved with slow, deliberate precision Each held a massive metal plate like a shield Fred hit the COM and yelled, "Heads up! Covenant Hunters dead ahead!" There was no time to evade the new threat

The nearest Hunter wheeled to face the its back flared, ane crea- ture raised its un, reen

The Hunter fired

Fred killed the power, and his Banshee dropped ten y split the air where his flier had been a second before