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"We are seven hundred thousand kilometers from the systeh to see what's going on--but far enough away so ould have tie and reenter Slipspace if there's any trouble

Picking up signals now Covenant signals Lots of thestand by"

Haverson tapped one of the screens and e

"My God," he whispered

A planet appeared on the screen He sucked in his breath as he saorld sed over its surface, and a hurricane of black spiraled through the atmosphere

The Master Chief felt as if the ship had suddenly decelerated

His hands clenched

He'd sent the majority of his team down there--and had con- sidered it the "easier" otten his Spartans killed, he was sure of it

Had they at least died fighting? Or were they burned froht place?" Locklear murmured "That's Reach?" He removed his cap, crushed it in his hand, and whispered, "Poor bastards"

The other displays showed Covenant warships orbiting the planet, as well as dozens of se structure that see station

"What is this?" the Master Chief asked, stepping closer He tapped the center display, pushing the li a portion of the surface near the reen, brown, and white-- different froe that dominated the view of the rest of the planet

"Looks like they eant said

"The Covenant don't 'lass a planet," the Master Chief replied "We've seen them do it a thousand times This is no accident" He turned to Lieutenant Haver-son "We should get closer and see what this is, sir"

"Master Chief," Haverson said softly and held up his hands "I sympathize with your need to knoith absolute certainty what happened to your fellow Spartans, but this is" He gestured to the planet and then frowned as he scrutinized the undaed part of Reach "Indeed," he muret aith it"

The Lieutenant pulled the nification back and refocused the display on the upper atmosphere A hundred Covenant ships popped into view "There are several set what I just said," Haverson whispered "If the Covenant are so interested in this region, then we should be as well--as long as our cover holds Cortana, take us in closer"

"Yes, Lieutenant," Cortana replied

The Covenant flagship s us," Cortana said "Preparing the proper counter-response"

John counted the ships on the display There were hundreds-- er than a Covenant dropship, but there were at least a dozen cruisers and two of the titanic carriers that each carried three squadrons of Seraph fighter craft There was ship into

Many of the smaller ships herded debris fro junkyard of UNSC and Cove- nant ships

"You see this?" The Master Chief pointed to the field of floating debris

The Lieutenant stared at it "It's almost as if they planned to stay here for a while--they're cleaning house"

"We're in," Cortana announced "The fleet is curious why a Covenant flagship is here, but not suspicious enough to question our authority The translation is tricky But apparently fro of honorifics attached to their responses there's supposed to be so this ship, sos, as the 'Guardian of the Lueant Johnson

"Can you tell what they're doing down there, Cortana?" the Lieutenant asked

"Not yet," she replied "Their language doesn't translate in a literalthey consider holy--there are ten tiious allusions than in their typical conal Weaker than the others Not on a Cove- nant frequency It's the UNSC E-band"

Lieutenant Haverson licked his lips "Play it," he said

A h the speakers, six tones, then a two-second pause; it repeated

The Master Chief stiffened

"That's it," Cortana said "Just those six notes over and over It originates here" A tiny NAV triangle appeared on the edge of the intact region on the planet's surface

"It's not Morse code," Polaski said "Not any code I've heard of Maybe it's a test signal? So automated, like an air-traffic repeater relay, maybe?"

"It's not autoet ready We're going down there There are Spartans down there And they're still alive"

He whispered so softly that only he and Cortana heard: "Oly Oly Oxen Free"

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

1002 hours, July 14,2523 (Military Calendar)\Epsilon Eridani syste exercise Twenty-nine years ago

John crawled forward and peered over the edge of the rise A lush, green valley stretched out below hi Horn River twisted through the thick forest Aside from a flock of birds that wheeled overhead, there was no activity below He inched back to a blackened, hol- low tree stump and crawled inside

Fred and Linda sat inside the hollowed-out cedar stump It muffled their conversations and insulated theles "It's all clear for now," he whispered A hostlike, froed positions nearby They crouched outside the cedar stump and watched for patrols

From a distance they looked like soldiers on field ile, and looked to be in their late teens or early twenties Closer observation told a different story Each Spartan was no more than twelve years old

"Weapons check," John told Fred and Linda "We can't afford any mistakes on this one, especially not with the rifles"

Linda and Fred disassembled and inspected their SRS99C-S2 sniper rifles--which they'd liberated froo Coo

If the soldiers of Tango Company didn't capture them and beat them into unconsciousness--this would be fun

John checked his pistol CPO Mendez had issued the weapon

It used coe enty meters, and on impact it could drop a rhino in its tracks

Twenty h, so Fhajad had modified the 114mm APFSDS rounds fro tips, and re- placed them with narq-dart capsules