TIME-.DATE RECORD [[ERROR]]ANOMALY\Date unknown\ Captured Covenant flagshipAscendant Justice, in anomalous Slipspace bubble.
The Master Chief woke.
Consciousness, however, was a slight overestimation of his condition. His blurry vision came into focus slowly... but there was nothing to see except the interior of his visor.Amber status lights winked on.
Pain washed over his feet, his right thigh, and his hand. Good. He was alive. He knew from previous experience that this was the tail end of shock ... and the stunning, numbingeffects of that state were wearing off.
He felt the familiar weight and reactive circuits of his MJOLNIR armor surrounding him.The coppery-tinged flavor of biofoam coated his mouth, so he also surmised that hisinjuries had been recently treated.
And there was gravity. The press against his back was a great comfort to the Master Chief.The next time someone wanted him to go on a zero-gee op, he'd—"Welcome back," Cortana said, interrupting his thoughts. A faint light flickered on to hisleft.
He turned onto his side. The burns on his extremities pro.tested and shot lances of painup his hand and feet.
He was in a med bay. The lights were turned down low, and he saw that he was the onlyperson occupying a recovery bed. Bio-monitors pulsed along one wall, displaying his vitalsigns and MRI snapshots.
A holographic projection pad stood next to his bed. Cortana'sERIC NYLUND235tiny figure, strobing with symbolic logic code, waved to him, and when he didn'timmediately respond she crossed her arms impatiently. "MRIs show no concussion, no subdural or epidural hematomas. You must have a thicker skull than I thought.""Where am I?""Deck thirty-two on the UNSC frigate Gettysburg" Cortana told him. "Or what's left of it,anyway.""What happened?"Cortana sighed. "Are you referring to what happened since I left you on Reach? Or theoutcome of the Slipspace battle? Or do you mean what happened since that battle?""The battle, first," he said and struggled to get up. "I presume we won."Standing was too painful, though, and the strength seemed to have been drained from hismuscles. He eased himself back to his original horizontal position.
Cortana's pale blue light dimmed and her gaze dropped to the deck. "Blue Team successfully repaired the main-engine conduit.""I remember," the Master Chief murmured. "The repair part of it, at least. There was an explosion...""A plasma bolt," Cortana corrected. She sighed. "I'm sorry, Chief, but only you and SPARTANS-093, -043, and -104 sur.vived that blast."Grace, Will, and Fred were alive, but Li, Anton, and Warrant Officer Polaski had been killed in action. He remembered Po-laski's scream, then Anton's outline as the flash ofwhite-hot fire swept over the hull.
"Acknowledged," he said as graciously as he could muster, but he heard bitterness give an edge to his voice.
It struck him as odd that Polaski's death affected him as well. He'd seen thousands ofUNSC soldiers die. She hadn't hesitated to transport Blue Team on a mission that was insanely danger.ous. She had survived the battle of Reach, the crash landing on Halo, theFlood, and everything else—then she had bravely vol.unteered for this mission, too, andperhaps saved all their lives.
She might have made a good Spartan. There were worse eulogies.
The Master Chief sighed, called up his team roster on his heads-up display, and markedAnton and Li as Missing in Action.
236HALO: FIRST STRIKEHe paused to view all the others on that list; his first and best friend, Sam, was there ...and he hadn't even realized a dozen more had been listed as MIA.
He saved the changes to the roster and closed the file.
"What about Kelly and Linda?" he asked Cortana.
Cortana looked up and flipped the hair from her luminous eyes. She paced a small circleon the holographic pad and then said, "SPARTAN-087, Kelly, is recovering from second-degree burns on seventy-two percent of her body. Doctor Halsey has ac.celerated tissue regrowth with dermacortic steroids. She should be fully healed in a matter of days...although her mobility will be severely hampered until then.""And Linda?""Accessing status." Cortana paused for a full second. "Doctor Halsey has SPARTAN-058currently in medical facility alpha, three decks above us. She still has her in a cryogenic state and is presently performing exploratory surgery. She has given me several orders toprepare the flash clone banks for replacement organs pending transplant.""So she's alive?" the Master Chief asked.
"Technically," Cortana replied, "no." For a moment there was a look of genuine concern on her face—but it quickly vanished. "The doctor and Admiral Whitcomb have debatedthe risk of at.tempting to revive SPARTAN -058 before we reach a major medical facility.Doctor Halsey, I'm sure, will brief you when she has all the facts, Chief."John frowned at this lack of detail. He didn't appreciate Cor-tana's increasingly difficultattitude, one that had slowly shifted ever since she interfaced with the Forerunner computer system on Halo. He made a mental note to ask Dr. Halsey about Linda later...and he'd ask her about Cortana, too.
"All other hands on board are accounted for?" the Master Chief asked,"Yes, Chief. They are all engaged in repairs to the conjoined ships. We took tremendous damage in the expanded Slipspace from plasma bombardments and mass impacts. Bothships' super.structures, however, remain intact. The Gettysburg's reactor is online andoperating at sixty-seven percent capacity. Ascendant Justice's reactor is offlineundergoing repairs. Five of our sevenERIC NYLUND237plasma turrets require refit. And worst, Ascendant Justice's en.gines are crippled. Wehave less than three percent operational thrust.""Can the ship still jump to Slipspace? Are we stranded out here?""A jump is possible," Cortana said. She shook her head the way an older sister mi htwhen her baby brother asked a naive question. "It wouldn't do us any good, thougggh. Thealien artifact in Doctor Halsey's possession emits high levels of radiation in Slipspace.This unknown radiation even penetrates your suit's shields. I estimate lethal exposure injust under seventy-two hours. Also, that radiation would serve as a beacon for anyCove.nant ships prowling Slipspace, searching for us.""So we're stuck between systems.""Negative," Cortana replied, and her voice took on a new chill. "Admiral Whitcomb isquite adamant that we risk another Slipspace transition—regardless of the cost in humanlife. Other.wise, it would be weeks before we would be able to contact UNSC HighCommand."HighCom? Two facts suddenly clicked into place: the Admi.ral's need to contact the restof the Admiralty—no matter the price—and Dr. Halsey's attempts to revive Linda.
"What's compelling the Admiral's tactics, Cortana?"Cortana's holographic outline softened. "I told you this be.fore, Chief, but apparently itdid not stick in your semiconscious state." She then came into sharp focus and crossedher arms over her chest. "The Covenant have discovered the location of Earth."The Master Chief stood, suddenly wide awake and alert. He set aside his pain and fatigue.
"Explain," he demanded.
Cortana outlined her discovery of the encoded subchannel within normal Covenantcommuniques. She explained how the Covenant's military orders were disseminated withstartling effi.ciently, and she then showed him symbols that represented the coordinatesfor Sol... and Earth.
He stood mute and listened. The UNSC had worked so hard, for so long, to preserve thissecret. It was only a matter of time; he had always known that the Covenant had to findEarth sooner238HALO: FIRST STRIKEor later. He had, however, always thought it would be later ... and never now.
The Master Chief stared at the tiny triangles, squares, dots, and bars that made up thespatial coordinates. "We've seen these before, on Cote d'Azur.""Yes. And according to Doctor Halsey, her team on Reach found similar markings in theunderground vaults.""What's the connection?""Unknown."The Master Chief put these facts aside for the moment; the greater meaning of thesymbols and translation he'd leave up to Cortana and ONI. The only insight that matteredto him was that the Covenant were going to attack Earth.
"Was there a timetable or any other data encoded on the sub.channel?" he asked.
"Affirmative. There's a coordinated series of orders to Cove.nant warships scatteredacross the galaxy to rendezvous with a mobile command-and-control base they call the'Unyielding Hierophant.' When they have sufficient force, they will collec.tively make thejump to Earth."The Master Chief moved toward the medical bay's doors. They automatically parted."Where is Admiral Whitcomb?""The Admiral is currently on the bridge," Cortana replied. "But Doctor Halsey gave me strict orders that you are not to—""I don't take orders from civilians," he snapped. "Not even her." The Master Chief passedout of the medical bay and marched down the corridor.
"You know," Cortana said, her voice now coming from his helmet speaker, "your attitudehas degraded since we started this mission—even before the battle for Reach.""Noted," he replied.
The dim white light flooding the Gettysburg's passages was a welcome change from theblue illumination the Covenant used on their ships. John was glad to have his feet once more firmly planted on the raw steel decks of a human vessel, even if the walls of thispassage were soot-stained.
He entered the Command elevator and punched the button for the bridge. The gentleacceleration made new pain flare alongERIC NYLUND239his arms, and ligaments popped in his chest—but he gritted his teeth and banished thepain from his awareness.
When the doors parted, the Master Chief paused, taking in the sad state of theGettysburg's bridge. The front viewports had been blown out and recently replaced withwelded plates of hull armor. A trio of monitors had been hastily bolted in place over them.Crystallized freeze-dried blood covered the navigation and ops consoles. Only three control stations were lit: engineer.ing, computer status, and MAC ops.
But most disconcerting was that only Admiral Whitcomb and Lieutenant Haverson were present on a bridge that usually needed a staff of thirty officers. The room was as still and empty as a tomb.
"Master Chief," Admiral Whitcomb said, slightly surprised.
"Sir." He stood at attention and snapped off a crisp salute. "Permission to enter thebridge.""Granted, son," the Admiral said.
"What's your status, Chief?" Haverson asked. "Doctor Halsey told us it would be days before you recovered.""I'm one hundred percent, sir," he said.
As if she had heard this statement, Dr. Halsey opened a COM channel, and a tiny video feed popped onto his heads-up display. Her glasses reflected an ambient orange lightfrom wherever she was, and he could not see her eyes.
"John, I need to speak with you.""I'm with Admiral Whitcomb and Lieutenant Haverson, ma'am. When I'm done I can speak with you."She was silent a moment, then said, "Very well." The COM winked off.
The Master Chief felt a pang of regret for being so terse with her.
"Get over here, son," the Admiral said. He returned his atten.tion to the clear plastic walldotted with stars and the diamond symbols that represented UNSC military outposts inthis region of space. "We're in something of a tough spot."He marched to the Admiral and Haverson and studied the chart with them. "Cortana'sbriefed me, sir. The Covenant know Earth's location and are on the move, most likelypreparing a massive attack.
""That's the gist of it, I'm afraii"d,Haverson said, and the Chief240HALO: FIRST STRIKEnoticed deep circles of fatigue ringing the younger man's eyes. "To complicate matters,we can barely navigate. We've been working around the clock to restore our ships, butwe'd need an engineering crew of a hundred and a space dock to get these wrecks into fighting shape."Admiral Whitcomb frowned at the Lieutenant's dour assess.ment and added, "Another trick is that the crystal we picked up on Reach emits radiation in Slipspace. Enough to killeveryone after only a few more hours of exposure.
"But we're hanging on to the alien device. It changes the prop.erties of Slipspace, as you already saw—but with one more twist. In the few minutes we were in that tangledversion of Slip-space, we traveled here"—he drew a tiny circle on the map, cen.tered on their position—"which under normal circumstances should have taken us days.""We attempted to briefly jump again," Haverson added, "but nothing extraordinary occurred. This unusually long jump may have been caused by the energy added toSlipspace by our battle with the Covenant.""In any case," Admiral Whitcomb said, "if we learn what makes this crystal tick, it'd give us a hell of an edge on the Covenant.""I see, sir."The Chief scrutinized their location—not quite the definition of the middle of nowhere,but close. He noted that there were three star systems within the circle.
Haverson also peered at the chart. He touched one of the star symbols within their range,and statistics scrolled along.side the object. He sighed. "This system was glassed in 2530,so there's no chance there would be anyone to help us there. And the other two systems. .." He shook his head. "Uninhabited.""Hell," Admiral Whitcomb said and tugged on his mustache, "we pulled out of this region of space almost as soon as the war started. The Covenant came in, burned Eridanus and the other Outer Colonies, and then moved on without batting an eye.""Eridanus?" The Chief stepped closer and touched the data scrolling next to the tiny star."I know this place." He turned to the Admiral. "And there is a human colony there, sir— just not one that the UNSC cares about anymore. If I had to guess, I'd betERIC NYLUND241that the Covenant never found it, either. We might be able to ex.pedite repairs there."The Admiral stared thoughtfully at him. "You sure? Sure enough to bet our lives and Earthon that hunch, Chief?"The Master Chief looked again at the tiny dot on the map.
It wasn't Eridanus he was thinking of. It was the surrounding asteroid belt ... and a mission he and his team had executed twenty years ago.
"Yes, sir. I'm sure."