0930 hours, September 4,2552 (Military Calendar) \ UNSC High Command (HighCom)Facility Bravo-6, Sydney, Australia, Earth. Two and a half weeks ago.
Lieutenant Wagner walked through metal-and explosive-detector gates and into theatrium entrance of the large, vaguely conical structure. Officially designated UNSCHighCom Facility B-6, the sprawling edifice had been nicknamed "the Hive."It was overcast in Sydney. Gray light filtered in through the crystal dome overhead.
He marched past officers and NCOs moving with purpose to whatever destinations occupied their time. He ignored the dis.plays of acacia trees and exotic ferns meant for the press and civilian tours. Today there was no time for pleasantries.
In another hour the apparent calm and efficiency of HighCom would be shattered into a billion pieces. Only a few of the brass knew that the UNSC's mightiest outpost, Reach, was now noth.ing more than a cinder.
Wagner approached the receptionist's station under the watchful eyes of a trio ofarmored Marine MPs.
Keeping Reach's fate quiet was not the UNSC's biggest se.cret, not by a country mile.
Virtually no one in the civilian popu.lation of the Inner Colonies knew how perilouslyclose they were to losing this war. ONI Section Two had done a brilliant job of preservingthe fiction that Earth forces held their own against the Covenant.
And what did the citizens of the Outer Colonies think? Those who hadn't fled to remoteoutposts and hidden privateer basesERIC NYLUND 99weren't in any position to make trouble. The Covenant didn't take prisoners.
"You're expected today, Lieutenant," the receptionist said. She was a young Chief PettyOfficer and looked like she didn't have a care, or a clue. But her eyes gave her away. Sheknew something. Maybe not what, but she had undoubtedly picked up on the increasedsecurity protocols ... or the haunted looks in the eyes of her commanding officers.
"Please proceed to elevator eight," she told him and returned her attention to the screenin front of her.
He made a mental note to find out who this perceptive erson was and see if she could berecruited into Section Three. ONI had lost a lot of good pppeople in the last few weeks.
Wagner moved to the solid steel wall, and a pair of doors parted for him. He entered thesmall room; the doors closed and locked with a whisper-quiet snik.
A fingerprint pad and retinal scanner extended from the wall. Wagner pressed his handonto the scanner, and a needle stabbed his index finger. They'd check his DNA against thesample on file. He blinked once and then rested his chin on the retinal scanner.
"Good morning, Lieutenant," a sweet female voice whispered in his ear.
"Good morning, Lysithea. How are you today?""Ver well, now that I see that you have returned safely from your mission. I assumeeveryyything went as expected.""You know that's classified," he told the AI.
"Certainly," she replied, her tone playful. "But I'll find out anyway, you know. Why notsave me the time and just tell me?"Although he generally enjoyed this tete-a-tete with Lysithea, he knew it was part of thebiometric scan, too. She scanned his brainwaves and voice patterns in response to herqueries and matched them to older responses in her memory. She probably tested hisloyalty in security measures as well—he didn't put any.thing past Section Three; theygrew more paranoid every day.
"Of"course you'll find out," Wagner rep"lied. But I still can't tell you. That would be a breach of security, punishable under Article 428-A. In fact," he said in a more serious tone, "I'll have to report this violation to my controller."100HALO: FIRST STRIKEShe laughed, and it sounded like fine bone china clinking to.gether. "You may proceed,Lieutenant," she told him.
The doors parted and revealed a corridor lined with walnut panels and paintings ofWashington Crossing the Delaware, Ad.miral Cole's Last Stand, various alien landscapes,and space battles.
Although he had barely felt the descent, Wagner knew he had dropped three kilometers into the planet, through solid layers of granite, reinforced concrete, plates of Titanium-A,and EMP-hardened metal. None of this made him feel any safer, though; ONI's researchfacility on Reach had the same setup, and it hadn't done those poor bastards any good.
He stepped off the elevator. Lysithea whispered at his back: "Watch out in there. They're looking to put someone's head on a pike."Wagner swallowed and straightened the microscopic wrinkles in his uniform. He searched for a reason to delay—anything that would keep him out of the room at the end of this corridor. He sighed and overcame his inertia. No one kept the Security Com.mittee for the UNSC waiting.
A pair of MPs snapped to as he approached the set of double doors. They didn't salute,and their hands rested on their hol-stered sidearms. They stared straight ahead, butWagner knew that if he twitched the wrong way he'd be shot first and ques.tioned later.
The doors silently swung inward.
He entered, and the doors closed behind him and locked. Wagner recognized most of thebrass seated at the crescent-shaped table: Major General Nicolas Strauss, Fleet AdmiralSir Terrence Hood, and Colonel James Ackerson. Vice Admiral Whit-comb's chair was empty.
Another half-dozen officers were also present, and all were of command rank, whichmade Wagner nervous. Each had display tablets set before them, and even upside down, Wagner recog.nized his preliminary report and video records.
Wagner saluted.
General Strauss leaned forward and snapped off his display. "Christ! Did we know they had so many damn ships?" HeERIC NYLUND 101banged a fist onto the table. "Why the hell didn't we know about this? Who in ONI let thisone slip by?"Ackerson leaned back. "No one is to blame, General—except the Covenant, obviously. I'mmore concerned with our response to this incursion. Our fleet was decimated."Ackerson's reputation preceded him. Wagner had heard about the lengths to which he'dgone in the past to make sure his own operations got priority over Section Three's. Hisrivalry with the SPARTAN-II program leader, Dr. Catherine Halsey, was the stuff oflegend. Wagner thought Ackerson had been reassigned to a front-line post. Apparentlyhe'd squirmed out of it. That was trouble.
Admiral Hood straightened and pushed his display away and finally acknowledgedWagner. He returned the salute. The Ad.miral was impeccably groomed, not a silver hairout of place on his head, and yet there were dark circles under his eyes. "At ease,Lieutenant."Wagner tucked his hands behind the small of his back and moved his feet slightly apart,but otherwise didn't relax a mil.limeter. One was never at ease when in the presence oflions, sharks, and scorpions.
Hood turned to Ackerson. "Decimate is the wrong word, Colonel. We would have been decimated if we lost one ship out of every ten." He voice rose slightly. "Instead, we lostten of our ships for every one that managed to limp away. It was a total disaster!""Of course, Admiral." Ackerson nodded, pretending to listen, and his eyes flickered over the report again. His eyebrows raised as he noticed the time and date stamp. "There's one thing, how.ever, I'd like answered first." His glassy glare locked onto Wag.ner. "The time difference between the events in this report and now..." He trailed off, lost in thought."Congratulations, Lieu.tenant. This is a new speed record from Reach to Earth.Espe.cially when I know you took the time to perform the legally required random jumps before returning to Earth.""Sir," Wagner replied. "I followed the Cole Protocol to the letter."That was a lie and everyone in this room knew it. ONI was al.ways bending the ColeProtocol. In this case, it was probably102HALO: FIRST STRIKEjustified because of the value of the intel. Still, if they wanted to crucify him, all they hadto do was check the time logged on his Prowler's engines and do the math.
Hood waved his hand. "That's hardly the issue.""I think it is," Ackerson snappe"d. Reach is gone. There's nothing between Earth and theCovenant now except a lot of vacuum—that and whatever secrecy we can preserve.""We'll review Section Three's practices later, Colonel." Ad.miral Hood turned to Wagner."I've read your report, Lieu.tenant. It is extremely detailed, but I want to hear it from you. What did you see? Are there any details you thought too sensi.tive to include in your report? Tell me everything."Wagner took in a deep breath. He had prepared for this and he related, as best he could,how the Covenant ships appeared in the system, the valiant efforts of the UNSC fleetdefending Reach, how they failed and were systematically destroyed.
"When the Covenant slipped onto the surface of Reach with their tactical forces and tookout the orbital-gun generators— that was the end. Well, I saw only the start of the end.They glassed the planet, starting with the poles."Wagner, who'd two years ago had a third of his body burned by Covenant plasma and notonce screamed or shed a tear, paused and blinked away the moisture blurring his vision. "I trained at the Naval Academy on Reach, sir. It was the closest thing I had to a home inthe Outer Colonies."Hood nodded sympathetically.
Ackerson snorted. He pushed away from the table, got up, and moved to Wagner's side."Save the sentimentality, Lieutenant. You say they glassed Reach. Everything?"Wagner detected anticipation in the Colonel's tone—as if he wanted the Covenant to have destroyed Reach.
"Sir," Wagner replied. "Before I jumped to Slipspace, I wit.nessed the poles destroyed,and approximately two thirds of the planet's surface was on fire."Ackerson nodded, seemingly satisfied with this answer. "So everyone on Reach is gone,then. Vice Admiral Whitcomb. Doc.tor Halsey, too." He nodded and added, "Such atremendous waste." There was no sympathy in his voice.
"I could only speculate, sir."ERIC NYLUND103"No need," Ackerson muttered. He returned to his seat.
Strauss sighed. "At least we have your special weapons pro.grams, Ackerson. Halsey'sSPARTAN-IIs were such a great sue—"Ackerson shot the General a look that could have blasted through battle plate.
The General halted midsentence and snapped his mouth closed.
Wagner stood absolutely still and stared straight ahead, pre.tending he hadn't seen sucha gross breach of military protocol. A General knuckling under to a junior officer?Something ex.traordinary had just been revealed —there was some kind of backup plan on a par with the SPARTAN program, and Acker.son was behind it. The Colonel suddenlyhad a lot of juice.
Wagner continued to feign ignorance—and no matter what, he didn't meet ColonelAckerson's gaze. If Ackerson suspected that he'd caught on, the bastard would have himerased to pre.vent his secret from getting back to Section Three.
After what seemed a century of uncomfortable silence, Admi.ral Hood cleared his throat."The Pillar of Autumn, Lieutenant Wagner. Was that ship destroyed? Or did she jump?There is no mention in your report.""She jumped, sir. Telemetry indicates the Autumn was pur.sued by several enemy ships,however, so her fate can only be speculated upon. I did not mention the Pillar of Autumn in my report, as that ship is on Section Three's Secure List.""Good." Hood closed his eyes. "Then there is, at least, some hope."Ackerson shook his head. "With all due respect to my prede.cessor, Doctor Halsey, thespecial weapons package on the Pil.lar hasn't got a chance in hell of accomplishing itsmission. You might as well have shot every one of them in the head and gotten it over with.""That will be enough, Ackerson," Hood said and glowered at him. "Quite enough.""Sir," Wagner ventured. "The Colonel may be correct... at least in his mission assessment.Our agent on the Pillar of Au.tumn signaled us before the end. He regrettably reportedthat a104HALO: FIRST STRIKEsignificant number of Spartans went groundside to defend Reach's orbital guns.""Then they're dead," Ackerson said. "Halsey's freaks have fi.nally lost their luster ofinvincibility."Admiral Hood set his jaw. "Doctor Halsey," he said slowly and with deliberate control,"and her Spartans deserve the ut.most respect, Colonel." He turned to face him, but Hoodstared through Ackerson. "And if you wish to keep your newly ac.quired position on theSecurity Council, you will show them that respect, or I will personally kick you from here to Melbourne.""I merely—" Ackerson said.
"Those 'freaks,' " Hood said over his protest, "have more confirmed kills than any three divisions of ODSTs and have gar.nered every major citation the UNSC awards. Those 'freaks' have personally saved my life twice, as well as the lives of most of the senior staffhere at HighCom. Keep your bigotry in check, Colonel. Do you understand?""My apologies," Ackerson muttered.
"I asked you a direct question," Admiral Hood barked.
"Sir," Ackerson said. "I understand completely, Admiral. It will not happen again." His face burned bright red.
Wagner, however, didn't think this was the color of shame. It was anger.
"The Spartans," Hood whispered. "Doctor Halsey. Whit-comb. We lost too many goodpeople on Reach. Not to mention dozens of ships." He pursed his lips into a razor-thinline.
"We should send a small recon force to see what's left," Gen.eral Strauss suggested.
"Not wise, sir," Ackerson replied. "We must pull back and re.inforce 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 bothpositions.
"Sir," Wagner said. "There is one additional item not covered in my report. It didn't seem exceptionally important at the time, but if you're debating a recon mission, I thought itmight be pertinent."ERIC NYLUND 105"Just spit it out," General Strauss said.
Wagner swallowed and resisted the urge to meet Ackerson's eyes. "When the Covenant destroys a planet, they typically move their large warships closer and blanket the worldwith 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 bombardment doctrine, Lieutenant," Hood growled.
"What of it?""As I indicated, they started at the poles, but took in only a few ships. They were spreadthin 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 Autumn?'
Ackerson waved his hand dismissively. "Reach is glassed, Lieutenant. If you had stayed towatch the whole show, they would have burned you down, too.""Yes, sir," Wagner replied. "If, however, there is a recon mis.sion, I would like tovolunteer for the duty."Ackerson got up and strode to Wagner. He stood a centimeter from his face, and theireyes locked. Ackerson's gaze was full of poison. Wagner did his best not to recoil, but hecouldn'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'twant trouble over Reach... or maybe, as Lysithea had warned him, that he was just lookingfor someone's head to impale on a pike.
"Are you deaf, Lieutenant?" Ackerson asked with mock con.cern. "Some kind of hearingloss due to combat action?""No, sir.""Well, when you push the limits of Slipspace in those little Prowlers, you risk all kinds ofradiation damage. Or maybe the trauma of seeing Reach destroyed shook you. Whatever your problem, when you leave here you are to visit the infirmary. They are to give you a clean bill of health before you return to active duty." He shrugged. "There must besomething wrong with you, Lieutenant, because you do not seem to understand me even though my words are crystal clear.""Sir.""Let's try this, then. We are not wasting a single UNSC ship to106HALO: FIRST STRIKEconfirm what we have already seen a dozen times before: Reach is gone."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."