TIME:DATE RECORD [[ERROR]]ANOMALY\Date Unknown\ Captured Covenant flagshipAscendant Justice, in anomalous Slipspace bubble.
Admiral Whitcomb stood on the bridge of Ascendant Justice. He gripped the edges of therailing that encircled the central raised platform and watched the sea of fire on the walldisplays.
They were stuck in this pocket of Slipspace, trapped like an insect in amber as lines ofplasma crisscrossed the region. Enemy fire vanished and reappeared, smearing the bluefog of Slipspace with crimson streaks of glowing energy. Molten chunks of metal, thebroken pieces of Covenant ships, streaked past the cameras—comets that thudded intotheir hull.
There was another danger in the blue fog: ghost ships that ap.peared and faded fromsight... more than half of them disabled, engulfed in fire, or their hulls broken. How manyof those Cove.nant craft were still capable of engaging Ascendant Justice"! How manycould they take out before they risked the jump back to normal space?
Lieutenant Haverson stood next to him. The young man was invaluable for his tacticalassessments and knowledge of the Covenant. He was a bit too cautious for Whitcomb'staste— though the trait was to be expected in an ONI officer, he sup.posed. Still, theyoung Lieutenant had shown enough backbone to stand up to him. The kid definitely hadsome potential.
A square on the holographic controls morphed into the tiny figure of Cortana.
"Sporadic plasma and mass impacts along our hull, Admiral," she reported and crossedher arms. "Atmospheric integrity downERIC NYLUNO225to thirteen percent. Structural integrity rated poor. I estimate the hull will fail in no more than five minutes.""Understood," the Admiral replied.
They didn't have much choice but to play the hand that they'd been dealt. The longer they stayed in this environment, the more damage the Covenant ships surrounding them incurred. If As.cendant Justice had engines, the Admiral could accelerate that process.But if they waited too long, their own ship would disin.tegrate around them.
Admiral Whitcomb glanced up to see how the rest of his crew was holding up under thepressure.
Locklear paced, his hands flexing. The ODST was a weapon with its safety permanentlyclicked off... and on overload charge.
Sergeant Johnson stood near the sealed bulkhead, rifle slung over his shoulder. He was looking at the crew and probably for.mulating his own opinions about them. He was rock-solid. One glance into his dark eyes and the Admiral understood what drove theman: pure cold hatred of the enemy. The Admiral could ap.preciate that.
Dr. Halsey tended the Spartan called "Kelly" on the deck. The doctor was brilliant... but atotal mystery to him. They had met half a dozen times before at upper-echelon socialgatherings, and he'd found her to be charming and outwardly likable. But he'd readenough reports of her "projects" that he'd found it im.possible to relate to her. If half therumors he'd heard about her were true, she'd been mixed up in every black op from here to Andromeda. He didn't trust her.
"Doctor Halsey," the Admiral said. He released his grip on the railing and clasped hishands behind his back to conceal his sweaty palms. "Clear my bridge of the wounded,ASAP."Dr. Halsey looked up from her data pad and the fluctuating patterns of Kelly's biosigns."Admiral, I don't want to move her. She not entirely stable.""Do it, Doctor. She's a distraction. We have a battle to fight here."Dr. Halsey shot him a look that could have stopped a plasma bolt dead in its tracks.
Lieutenant Haverson stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Ma'am, there's an escape craft just off the bridge." He moved226HALO: FIRST STRIKEto the starboard hatch and eased it open. He drew his pistol and checked the passage beyond. "It's clear. Locklear, Sergeant, please give the doctor a hand with her patient.""Yes, sir," Locklear said. "Happy to sit this battle out in the es.cape pod."Sergeant Johnson set his rifle on Kelly's chest and said, "Come on, Corporal, shake a leg and gimme a hand. The lady in her armor weighs more than your last date."Locklear and the Sergeant hefted Kelly and, grunting under the load, moved her off thebridge. Dr. Halsey followed, cast one last withering look at the Admiral, and sealed thehatch be.hind her.
Admiral Whitcomb sighed. He felt for the Spartan... felt too much—which was theproblem. He couldn't concentrate with her so close. He'd want constant status reports on her condition. Hell, he would have gone over, knelt next to her, and held her hand if thatwould've helped. He loved the men and women un.der his command as if they were hisown sons and daughters. It was the old axiom of command: To be a good leader, you hadto love the service. To be a great commander, you had to be willing to destroy that whichyou loved.
Static crackled, and the Master Chief reported in: "We're in position, Admiral. ETA for repairs is two minutes.""Roger, Chief," Admiral Whitcomb replied. "When you're done give the word and getsecure. We'll be accelerating immediately.""Yes, sir."Thunder rumbled through the deck.
"Plasma impacts, sir," Cortana explained. "Their energy pro.file has diffused, but theywere still powerful enough to knock the lateral sensors and cameras offline."Admiral Whitcomb smoothed his thick fingers over his mus.tache. "We've got only a fewminutes before this space tears us apart." He squinted at the wall displays, trying to countthe num.ber of enemy craft. "That's if those Covenant ships don't do the job first."He turned to Cortana. "How many enemy ships are there? Which are real and which areillusion?""Impossible to accurately determine, sir. I counted fourteenERIC NYLUND227targets before they started firing and filli the space between us with ionizing plasma.Now? ..." Mathematical symbols raced alongngng her length, flashing blue and indigo. "Crossindexingsimilar mirrored images and extrapolating, I estimate there are currentlybetween three and five operational ships, sir."Admiral Whitcomb gritted his teeth and concentrated. He had to get this ship moving— take out one or two enemy craft. Maybe the tangled plasma-filled space would cook therest of them.
That was their best chance. Their only chance. He'd have to trust the Master Chief to getthat drive conduit fixed.
"Very well, Cortana," he said. "Heat the Gettysburg's reactor to maximum power andprepare to flood the main-engine plasma conduit. Charge all available weapons turretcapacitors.""Yes, sir. Standby."He glanced at a screen that showed the Gettysburg sitting atop them inverted. "Is thelaunch bay on the Gettysburg intact? Can it hold an atmosphere?"Cortana blinked. "Yes, sir. It has a slow leak of thirty-two kilo pascals per—""Pressurize the bay.""Acknowledged, Admiral. However," Cortana replied, "that will leave our air reservesdangerously low."The Admiral stared at the ships surrounding them—a plasma bolt struck a distant cruiserhead-on, and its nose buckled. Gouts of flame flared along its lateral plasma lines. The ship looked like a fish spit with a red-hot poker.
That could have been them.
"Hurry up, Chief," he whispered.
On the displays the Admiral spotted two ships. There was a carrier far away; it lookedundamaged. Closer, off the port bow, was a cruiser that, aside from a hole punchedthrough its aft sec.tion, was also undamaged ... and only ten thousand kilometers away.That was the priority target.
"Lay in a new course," the Admiral ordered. "Two-four-zero by zero-three-five."Lieutenant Haverson took an involuntary step closer to the display, and his face contortedas he worked out the math in his head. "That's... a collision course, sir."228HALO: FIRST STRIKE"Glad you concur with my calculations," the Admiral re.marked dryly.
Lieutenant Haverson glanced at the Gettysburg and nodded, finally understanding. "Aye,sir. A good plan.""Admiral," the Master Chief's voice broke through in a wash of static. "Hull breach issealed, sir.""Hang on, son," Admiral Whitcomb said. "This might be a rough ride. Cortana, give me flank speed now!""Complying," Cortana said. "Flank speed. Conduit is hold.ing. Coming about to two-fourzeroby zero-three-five. Colli.sion with Covenant cruiser at this speed and heading ineighteen seconds."Ascendant Justice-Gettysburg accelerated toward a line of wavering orange plasma—and steamed through it like a ship smashing through a storm wave on the open seas.
Fire splashed over their hulls and burned away layers of ar.mor. The entire hullsuperstructure groaned. Explosions rever.berated through the deck.
"Fire on decks eight through twelve," Cortana reported. "We have lost plasma turret five.Distance to enemy ship six thousand kilometers and closing.""Initiate a roll, Cortana. Make it thirty degrees per second. That'll spread out the damage over more surface area.""Roll maneuver, aye. Attitude thrusters set to maximum burn." She exhaled, and her holographic image flickered with irrita.tion. "This will make a targeting solution difficult,sir.""Set firing range of plasma turrets for point blank," the Admi.ral told her.
Cortana hesitated for a full second. "Yes, Admiral."The space on the external cameras slowly began to spin as their ship spiraled towardtheir intended target.
The Covenant cruiser came about to face them. Its plasma tur.rets glowed like angry redeyes.
"Lieutenant, take the weapons station. Cortana, give us a firing solution and manual firecontrol."Haverson's hands moved quickly over the Covenant holo.graphic control surfaces.
"Cortana has a firing solution, sir. Acti.vate weapons?""Stand by, Lieutenant."ERIC NYLUND229"They'll get off the first salvo, sir," Lieutenant Haverson said. Although his voice was calm,a drop of sweat trickled down his freckled cheek.
"I hope they do," the Admiral replied. "It may be the only thing that saves us."Lieutenant Haverson took a deep breath, nodding. "Weapons standing by, sir.""Cortana, make ready to vent the Gettysburg's launch bay.""Aye, sir. Overriding bay door safeties. Distance to target three thousand kilometers."The Covenant cruiser fired. Lances of energy launched and veered toward AscendantJustice ... and arced away in cork.screw spirals and right angles. The space between thetwo large masses was still tangled and fractured.
"Two thousand kilometers," Cortana reported.
"Stay on course," the Admiral said. "And continue to hold fire."Lieutenant Haverson's jaw clenched, and his hands trembled over the controls.
The enemy cruiser filled the displays. Its plasma turrets re.cycled and glowed a dull red.
"One thousand kilometers," Cortana announced.
"Admiral?" Lieutenant Haverson asked.
"Hold your fire.""Five hundred kilometers," Cortana said. "Three hundred... two... collision imminent."The Admiral's fist clenched. He barked, "Fire! All turrets, fire! Cortana, depressurize thelaunch bay and give us full power to port."Ascendant Justice was a kilometer from the Covenant ship on an intercept course when itfired. The Gettysburg's launch bay doors opened and the air inside explosivelydecompressed— propelling the conjoined ships to port—just enough to miss the cruiser.
Plasma rocketed toward their target. There was no way to miss. White-hot fire impactedon the cruiser's hull, splashed across its surface, boiled off the armored skin, andcorroded the skeletal framework underneath.
"Aft cameras," the Admiral ordered.
230HALO: FIRST STRIKEOn screen he saw fire explode out the opposite side of the cruiser. The warship tilted androlled belly-up, plasma disinte.grating the interior from stern to stem until it reached thefusion core. The ship detonated in a ball of flame. An instant later the explosion twistedand curved as the warped Slipspace field swept away all traces of the enemy ship.
Lieutenant Haverson exhaled and wiped his brow. "Excellent maneuvering, Admiral.""Don't waste your breath on victory speeches yet, son." The Admiral scrutinized thetactical display and spotted the other ship. "There. We've got a new target."He pointed to a ship half obscured in the plasma fog: the car.rier, intact, with a cloud ofgnats swarming about it. Seraph fighters dived and intercepted plasma and meteor boltsthat got too close. The resulting fireballs deflected the impacts from the hull.
"She's got a smart Captain," the Admiral muttered. "So we can't use the same trick twice."Five explosions rattled Ascendant Justice, and the ambient blue light on the bridgeflickered.
"Meteor impact," Cortana replied. "We just lost plasma tur.rets two and three. Allfunctionality on decks eight and below has been lost. The structural integrity of this ship,sir, is in dan.ger of imminent collapse.""Another minute, Cortana," the Admiral told her and contin.ued to search the tacticaldisplay. "We either take out that carrier here—where their shields can't regenerate—or we face them in normal space."He tapped the TAC map. "Gotcha! Cortana, come about to zero-three-zero by one-fourfive,calculate the fastest accelera.tion and deceleration burns this ship can handle to getus to this object, and move this ship ASAP.""Yes, Admiral."Lieutenant Haverson looked at the map and located what the Admiral pointed at. "Thatobject is just part of a Covenant ship, the aft section of a cruiser."The Admiral nodded. "Exactly, Lieutenant. Cortana, how's the structural integrity of our ship's nose?"ERIC NYLUND231"Sir? The nose?" Cortana paused, then reported, "Intact, sir. Most of the damage has been to the lateral—""Bring us into direct contact with that hunk of metal, Cortana.""Aye, sir," Cortana replied.
Ascendant Justice accelerated toward the broken Covenant ship, and then slowed. The two warships touched; there was a slow grinding noise that echoed along the ship'sframe.
"Contact," Cortana reported.
"Perfect," Admiral Whitcomb replied. "New course three-two-zero by two-two-zero.Flank speed. Lieutenant, charge any plasma turret we have left. Cortana, get this shipready for full reverse power."Ascendant Justice—Gettysburg turned and moved toward the Covenant carrier—pushingthe broken hull of the other ship be.fore them.
They accelerated on a collision course.
The turrets on the Covenant carrier heated to white hot—but they held their fire.
"Eight thousand kilometers tt"o enemy ship,Cortana announced.
"Hold this course, Cortana.""Six thousand kilometers, sir.""Stand by," the Admiral ordered and gripped the railing again with his sweating hands.
"Two thousand kilometers.""Full reverse power now!"The engines rumbled, and the hull of Ascendant Justice shuddered.
The wrecked Covenant ship on their nose screeched as its mo.mentum carried it along atthe faster velocity. It pulled free of Ascendant Justice ... tumbled directly toward theenemy carrier.
"Mass impact on carrier in four seconds," Cortana said. "Three seconds."The carrier fired its plasma at the incoming mass. Flames heated the wreckage, punchedthough its armor and hull, and melted the alloy.
The mass, however, continued forward, shattered and molten— but its velocity wasundiminished.
It crashed into the carrier and sent it spinning to starboard.
232HALO: FIRST STRIKEThe carrier's hull breached along a dozen rents, and atmosphere vented and fanned thered-hot metal into gold flames. The launch bays chained with explosions.
"Fire all weapons, Lieutenant!"Ascendant Justice fired its remaining turrets. Plasma cut into the carrier and sliced it tothe core. Every deck flashed with fire and became an inferno.
"That's the best we can do," Admiral Whitcomb whispered. "Cortana, get us out of here.
Transition to normal space."Cortana's holographic silhouette blackened with swarming calculations. "EngagingSlipspace matrix."Blotches of inky black welled within the sea of fire. Tiny stars winked on within thosepools of darkness. The plasma-charged atmosphere faded, and the enemy ships ablazevanished.
"Cut all power to the engines," the Admiral ordered.
Admiral Whitcomb gazed at the blackness and stars. "Now, where the hell are we?"