0440 hours, September 13,2552 (revised date, Military Calendar)\Aboard hybrid vesselAscendant Justice-Gettysburg, station-keeping in Eridanus system.
Time was running out.
Dr. Halsey could feel the Covenant nearly upon them and her window of opportunityshrinking to a pinpoint. Only a few more things to take care of before she could go—before she started something she couldn't stop.
Someone approached the clean room, heavy footfalls that could only be a Spartan inMJOLNIR armor. Kelly appeared and waved from the other side of the glass partition thatseparated the clean room from the rest of Medical Four. Dr. Halsey buzzed her in.
"Reporting for treatment, Doctor," she said.
Kelly hesitated a moment as she glanced about at the unsterile environment the doctorhad been working in: Styrofoam cups littered the surgical instrument trays, thermalprintout paper curled from the biomonitors—and the radiation-emitting crystal they hadfound on Reach sat on a nearby instrument tray.
"I thought that crystal was in the reactor room," Kelly said. "Behind plenty of radiationshielding.""It's perfectly safe," Dr. Halsey said, "as long as we're in nor.mal space." She picked upthe crystal and slipped it carelessly into her lab coat pocket.
"Lie down please, Kelly." The doctor gestured to the con.toured treatment chair. "Just afew more injections and we're done with your burn therapy."Kelly sighed and eased herself onto the reclined chair.
ERIC NYLUND273Dr. Halsey removed a cloth covering a pair of injectors. She clicked them into the ports onKelly's MJOLNIR armor ports that threaded directly into her subclavian and femoralveins. "Keep doing your ph sical therapy, and the dermacortic steroids will remove mostof the scarring and restore yyyour full mobility within another week," she explained.
"A week?" Kelly growled and struggled to rise. "Doctor, I need to be one hundred percentASAP. The Chief has a mission—"Dr. Halsey activated the injectors, and they hissed their con.tents into Kelly's body. Sherelaxed and slumped back on the ta.ble, unconscious.
"No, Kelly," Dr. Halsey whispered. "You're not going on the Chief's mission. You're goingon mine."The sedative in her bloodstream would knock out an ODST in peak condition for thebetter part of a day. Halsey estimated that Kelly would be unconscious for a little morethan two hours. By that time they'd both be far enough along that there'd be no turn.ingback.
Dr. Halsey swiveled one of the displays to face her. She exe.cuted the memory-erasecommand—wiping clean Cor'tanas recollection of the research they had done on old ONIlockdown codes. She folded the printout of their results and stuffed it into her pocket.
"Cortana?""Yes, Doctor?" she replied. Her voice through the room's speakers sounded distracted.
"Locate Corporal Locklear and have him report immediately, please.""Done, Doctor Halsey.""Thank you, Cortana. That will be all." She added in a whisper so low that only she heard:
"Take good care of them all for me."Dr. Halsey adjusted the examination table so it lay flat, and then loaded medical suppliesand equipment onto its undercar.riage. She placed a bag with four submachine guns andsixteen full clips of ammunition on top of the supplies.
She found a lukewarm cup of stale coffee and gulped it down to the dregs.
Corporal Locklear appeared at the open entrance to the prep room. "Hey, Doc. Cortanasaid you needed me?" he said tersely.
274HALO: FIRST STRIKEHe smoothed his hand over his shaved head. "I'm kind of busy right now, so if this canwait—""Whatever you're doing," Dr. Halsey told him, "this is more important." She nodded toKelly's prone form. "I need your help getting SPARTAN-087 to the launch bay.""Is she okay?" he asked and took a step toward her.
"She's fine, but I have to transfer her to the asteroid base. They have a piece of equipmentnecessary to complete her treatment."Locklear appeared unconvinced. "But I just saw her—""She's fine," Dr. Halsey assured him. "Just sedated. This pro.cedure is... unpleasant, evenfor a Spartan."Locklear looked into Dr. Halsey's eyes and then nodded, ac.cepting this explanation. Hemoved the head of the table and wheeled it through the doors, the med bay, and out intothe wait.ing elevator.
Dr. Halsey followed on his heels.
When the elevator doors closed, she turned to the Corporal. "Your hand, please."He looked puzzled but held out his hand.
Dr. Halsey took it and turned it palm-up. She set the long, lu.minous blue artifact in hisgrasp. The light emitted by the alien artifact shone onto their faces and made the interiorof the eleva.tor colder. "This is what the Covenant so desperately want. They tore upReach to get it. They followed us into Slipspace. And Po-laski died protecting this thing."She watched Locklear carefully, gauging his reaction, and saw that he pulled away slightlyat this last remark; it had hit home.
"And what the hell am I supposed to do with it?""Keep it safe," she told him. "Guard it with your life, because if the Covenant ever get it,they'll be able to jump through Slipspace a hundred times faster than they can now. Doyou understand?"Locklear closed his large fist around the crystal. "Not really, Doc. But I can take care of it." He paused and wrinkled his forehead in confusion. "But why me? Why not ask one ofyour Spartans?"" 'My' Spartans," Dr. Halsey replied in a whisper, "could be ordered to hand it over toLieutenant Haverson. And he'd riskERIC NYLUND275etting it back to ONI Section Three—even if he had to gamble that the Covenant mightggget it."Locklear snorted. "Well, as much as I don't like El-Tee White-bread, I'd hand it over ifordered, too. What's the big deal, any.way? We're almost home.""Almost," Dr. Halsey repeated, and she gave him a slight smile. "But the moment youjump, this crystal emits radiation like a signal flare. The Covenant will find this ship ... andmaybe this time they'll win the battle in Slipspace."Locklear grimaced.
She held his steely gaze a moment and then finally let go of his hand. "So I know you'll dowhatever it takes to prevent this object from falling into enemy hands."He nodded grimly. "I read you, Doc. Loud and clear." There was a hint of respect in hisvoice. "I know what I have to do ... count on it.""Good," she said.
The elevator doors parted. Locklear stuffed the crystal into his ammunition vest, andLocklear wheeled the table into the Gettysburg's launch bay. "Where do you want her?"The bay was a beehive of activity: A hundred of Governor Jiles's crew jogged to and from passages carrying data pad schematics and field multiscanners; robotic dollies carried fatArcher missiles, spiderlike Antilon mines, and slender pods of deuterium fuel for theGettysburg's auxiliary reactors; three Longsword fighter craft were being repaired;exoskeletons thud.ded along the deck, carrying plates of titanium and welding them inplace.
"There," Dr. Halsey told Locklear. "Take her to that ship." She pointed to Governor Jiles'sChiroptera-class vessel. It sat on the deck looking like a sleeping bat. Its oddly angledstealth sur.faces blended into the shadows.
Locklear shrugged and pushed the loaded gurney.
Dr. Halsey halted by the ship's port hatch. It was sealed so tightly that no seam could bediscerned.
She retrieved the thermal printout from her coat and rechecked its contents. She then touched a recessed button on the hull, and a tiny plate slid aside revealing an alphanumeric keyboard. Dr. Halsey typed in a long string and pressed ENTER.
276HALO: FIRST STRIKEThe hatch parted with a hiss.
She smiled. "Not even Cortana could crack their crypto, in.deed." She waved Locklear inside.
Locklear obliged her and pushed the gurney into the ship. Dr. Halsey followed, securedthe examination table, and escorted Locklear outside. She turned and headed back into the vessel.
He started back toward the elevator, then halted. "Doc, when we were talking... you saidwhen 'you'jump to Slipspace. You meant when 'we'jump to Slipspace, didn't you?"Dr. Halsey locked eyes with him for a moment. Then she touched a button inside the ship,and the hatch hissed closed be.tween them.
The Master Chief stepped off the elevator and onto the bridge of the Gettysburg.Lieutenant Haverson and Admiral Whitcomb stared at the displays at Weapons Station One and Engineering.
"Sirs," the Chief said.
The Admiral waved him forward without bothering to look up.
The Chief had two tasks. First, he would inform the Admiral of his first-strike mission plan. He had to convince him there was no risk to their primary goal of returning to Earth—and a huge payoff if they succeeded. The only thing Admiral Whitcomb might object towas the high risk to his team.
The Chief's second task would be more difficult. He touched the belt pouch containing Dr.Halsey's data crystals. One was her analysis of the Flood infection mechanism and apossible way to block it. The second data crystal contained the source files of thatdiscovery, and according to Dr. Halsey it would lead to Sergeant Johnson's undignified,and unnecessary, death.
And yet, if it gave Section Three a better chance to stop the Floods—if indeed that threathad any meaning after the destruc.tion of Halo—maybe it was worth one man's life.Maybe if Sergeant Johnson knew, he'd volunteer.
The Chief's duty was clear: He had to hand over all files to the Lieutenant—but deep down, he had to admit that it didn't feel right.
"Cortana." Admiral Whitcomb crossed his arms over his bar.rel chest. "Give me an update on our power."Cortana's tiny image flickered to life on the holopad near theERIC NYLUND277NAV station. She crossed her arms over her chest much as he had, and minute redsymbols raced over her glowing lavender skin. "Status is nearly identical to my last reportfive minutes ago, Admiral. Tests on Ascendant Justice's reactor and the Get.tysburg'sengines are in synch, and will be completed in forty minutes.""Hurry," the Admiral growled. "I don't want to get stuck with.out power when unfriendlies show up. I want to get under way to Earth. Weapons status?""Aye, sir," Cortana said. "Plasma turret one is obliterated; no possibility of repair. Plasma turrets two, three, and four are re.paired, and although I'm waiting for power to testthem, I have run three hundred twelve virtual test-firings without incident. Turrets five,six, and seven, however, require parts Governor Jiles does not have in his inventory. Two Archer missile pods on the Gettysburg have been refilled. That gives us sixteen missiles hot and ready to go, sir.""I'd like to know where Jiles go"t those missiles,Lieutenant Haverson muttered. "They'reUNSC military contraband.""He is zpirate, Lieutenant," Cortana said.
"Good work," the Admiral told Cortana. "Keep me posted." He turned toward the Chief."You had something, Master Chief?"Before the Master Chief could speak his mind, Haverson said, "Admiral." He pointed at theforward screens and at the Chiroptera-class ship accelerating away from the Gettysburg'slaunch bay. "I thought Jiles was staying on board to oversee repairs.""So did I," the Admiral said. "Cortana, did you catch Jiles leaving on surveillance?""No, sir, but you might be interested in this." On the screen a grainy video appeared ofLocklear, Dr. Halsey, and a Spartan on a gurney boarding the ship. "Locklear left them atthe ship, sir. Doctor Halsey and SPARTAN- 087 departed.""Cortana," the Admiral barked. "Hail that ship. Now.""Hailing."Governor Jiles appeared on forward screen number one. "Ad.miral," he said with anervous smile. "I just saw my ship leave the launch bay. Perhaps you can explain why you commandeered278HALO: FIRST STRIKEmy personal property when I have showed nothing but good faith in this—""Hold on to your shirttail, Governor," Admiral Whitcomb snapped. "I'm in the middle offinding out who took your ship and what precisely is going on. Cortana, any response toour hail?""An automated code, sir," she said. Her mouth opened in as.tonishment. "UNSC CodeThree-Nine-Two.""Three-Nine-Two?" the Admiral asked. He stared into space, trying to recall the obscure code.
The Master Chief cleared his throat and told him, "Admiral, that is an official'nonresponse' code, sir. Special Warfare teams use it to ignore hails... due to a higher-priority mission.""God damn it." The Admiral's face flushed, and he ground his teeth. "You mean the goodOn the forward screen the Chiroptera, its batlike wings nearly invisible against the black doctor just told me to go to the of space, accelerated in a sudden burst. Pinpoints of light appeared around the craft thatelongated and smeared. The ship vanished.
"A Slipspace transition," Cortana said.
"I thought you told me," the Admiral said, slowly turning on Haverson, "that that ship was locked down. That vital compo.nents were removed when it was decommissioned. Thatthere was no way it could make a Slipspace jump?""Yes, sir, I did.""And would you care to explain why that ship just disap.peared, Lieutenant?""Yes, Admiral. I was wrong," Haverson replied without meet.ing the Admiral's eyes."Doctor Halsey apparently found a way to circumvent the ONI lockout on the ship'ssystems."On screen, Jiles said, "This is most unfortunate, Admiral. I ex.pect to be compensated1—""You bet it's unfortunate," Admiral Whitcomb said. "If I'd known there was a chance we could have used that ship to jump to Earth... I would have done it an hour ago. Cortana,what was her trajectory?""Not Earth," Cortana said. "Doctor Halsey's course points to no known system in my database."The Admiral scrutinized the forward screen: Jiles's face, theERIC NYLUND279empty star field, and the frozen video of Dr. Halsey and Locklear in the launch bay. "Iwant Corporal Locklear on the bridge ten minutes ago. Lieutenant Haverson, have Cortana locate him. Then I want you personally to escort that ODST up here."Haverson swallowed. "Yes, sir." He marched to the elevator, and Cortana told him, "He'son B-Deck, Lieutenant, medical storage. He's not answering my COM page." The elevator shut.
"Chief, you're on the Engineering console," the Admiral said. "Cover the NAV station, too.""Yes, sir." He moved to the Engineering station's monitors. There were thirty-five minutes to go on the shakedown cycle of the reactors and engines.
"Contact," Cortana said. "Bearing zero-three-zero on the so.lar plane. One—correction, two—Covenant cruisers. They're not moving. Maybe they haven't spotted us.""It never rains when it can monsoon," the Admiral declared. "They can't help but see us,Cortana, with all the radio chatter, ships, and leaking radiation. I bet they're just figuringout how best to kill us."Governor Jiles turned to someone off screen, and then said, "Admiral Whitcomb, given this new development I would like to evacuate my people off the Gettysburg and out ofharm's way.""Of course, Governor. Do what you have to."The number three screen snapped off, and the stars reappeared.
"And I'll do what I have to, too," Admiral Whitcomb said. "Cortana, halt the reactor and engine shakedown.""Sir? There are risks—""I want them online now. Don't tell me what the risks are. Just doit.""Yes, sir," she said.
"Master Chief, get this crate ready to move and stay on your toes. We'll need every trick inthe book to outmaneuver two cruisers.""Affirmative, Admiral." The Chief observed the shakedown cycle halt and Ascendant Justice's reactors restart. Radiation in.dicators redlined, and then dropped to a hairbreadth ... which was technically considered safe. The Gettysburg's engines shud.dered to life. The Chief felt the vibration though the deck half a kilometer away."Reactors are hot, sir," he reported.
280HALO: FIRST STRIKEThe Admiral watched as Jiles's fleet of single ships and tech.nicians in jet packsabandoned the Gettysburg, swarming across the dark of space back to the safety of theirasteroid. "Rats leav.ing a sinking ship?" he wondered aloud.
The Master Chief wasn't sure if that was a question directed at him, but he decided toreply anyway. "They're just men who want to live, sir."The Admiral nodded.
"Covenant cruiser accelerating," Cortana announced. "Bear.ing on a vector otrtsystem.It's transitioning to Slipspace.""Master Chief, get this tub moving. Now! Bring us up to half maximum speed.""Aye, sir." He tapped in commands. "Answering one half for.ward." The radiation warning on Ascendant Justice's reactor flickered, but stabilized and subsided.
The combined mass of the two attached ships groaned as their recently repairedsuperstructures overcame their inertia.
"Heat up our plasma turrets, Cortana.""Aye s—" Her translucent lavender hologram faded to ice blue. "Sir, additional contacts atsystem's edge. Three. No—additional transitions from Slipspace; counting eighteen— now thirty Cove.nant ships of various classes. Positions zero-three-zero. Zero-nine-one,one-eight-zero... Sir, they have us enveloped."The star chart vanished in a wink, and a map of the Eridanus system appeared with tinytriangles representing Covenant ships now encircling the perimeter. The map turned to a side profile and revealed half a dozen additional ships scattered along the nadir andzenith of the system.
Admiral Whitcomb stared at the map and shook his head. "You know the story of theAlamo, Chief?""Yes, sir. A famous siege with a handful of defenders holding off overwhelming forces."The Admiral smiled. "Texan defenders, Chief—there's a big difference. Colonel William Barrett Travis with one hundred fifty-five men held off more than two thousand Mexican invaders. They hunkered down inside a tiny fort and fought like wildcats. Travis got ahandful of reinforcements later—thirty-two men." The Ad.miral's smile faded. "You know there were fifteen civilians in.side that fort, too?" He looked at the map again."Well, when theERIC NYLUND281fighting was over, Travis and his men were dead, but it cost the enemy six hundred lives.""Like the Battle of Thermopylae," the Chief remarked.
"But there were survivors at the Alamo; they let the civilians live." He turned to the Chief."You think anyone's going to sur.vive this fight? You think there's any way to win?"The Master Chief tried to think of a way to fight and to win. Thirty Covenant ships againsttheir damaged hybrid vessel. Add to that the need to defend Governor Jiles's crew. Couldhe board one of the Covenant craft? Get Cortana to infiltrate their systems and broadcastfalsified orders? They would see him approach.ing. Or was there a blind spot he couldapproach from? How could he hide from the rest of the ships in their fleet, though? And by the time he could implement such a plan, the Gettysburg would be molten slag.
"It was a rhetorical question, Chief," the Admiral said.
"Yes, sir," the Chief replied. "Given our situation, resources, and our enemy'sdetermination, then, no, I see no way to win... or survive.""Neither do I." Admiral Whitcomb stood straight. "Cortana, get ready to jump. Chief,accelerate to flank speed course zero-five-five by two-nine-zero. Prepare to transition outof normal space on my mark.""Aye, sir," the Chief and Cortana answered in unison.
"We're leaving Governor Jiles and his people?" Cortana asked.
Admiral Whitcomb was silent a long moment, and then he replied, "We are. This isn't theAlamo and I'm not Colonel Wil.liam Barrett Travis, although I dearly wish I were. No,we're run.ning. We're trading hundreds of lives for billions."The Master Chief absentmindedly reached for his belt pouch, and Dr. Halsey's datacrystals clinked. "Is this the right thing to do, sir?""The right thing?" Admiral Whitcomb sighed. "Hell, son, it probably isn't. Personally, I'dprefer to fight, and die fighting, and take every one of those Covenant bastards with me.But I do not have the liberty to make that choice. My duty is clear: to pro.tect the men and women of Earth—not a pack of privateers and outlaws." He closed his eyes and said,"The logic of the situationr282HALO: FIRST STRIKEis also too damned clear. Even if we stay and fight... they'll all bejustasdead.""Capacitors at foil charge," Cortana announced. "Preparing to enter Slipspace. Waiting for your order, sir."The Master Chief saw the energy from Ascendant Justice's re.actor drain to 5 percent.Motes of blue-green light appeared on the forward screen, and the stars stretched and smeared like watercolors.
But something was wrong: The sThe s'hields of the Chiefs MJOLNIR armor rippled. Theradiation monitors spiked. Where was it coming from?
"Hundreds for billions," the Admiral whispered. "Duty be damned ... I'm still going to burnin hell for this." Admiral Whitcomb inhaled deeply and closed his eyes.
"Go, Cortana. Get us out of here. And God forgive me."Corporal Locklear whistled, and the robotic dolly obediently followed him. The rollingrobot was stacked with rifles, pistols, ammunition crates, and enough C-7 foamingexplosive to blow a half-kilometer crater in the side of the Gettysburg.
He made his way to the cargo elevator and then down to B-Deck. He had seen on theGettysburg's inventory that that was where they stored medical su plies... and he wanteda few cans of biofoam handy for the Master Chief's extremely well-ppplanned suicidemission.
Not that Locklear had anything against a good suicide mis.sion. He'd been on plentybefore, and they seemed to give him the most bang for his buck. Only now, after so muchfighting, he just wanted a break: twenty- four hours of sleep, and some R&R.
He idly tugged at the bandanna tied to his biceps.
"Damn girl," he whispered. "Why'd you have to die? I had plans for you and me."What was he doing mooning over a woman? And a Navy flier to boot? His squad wouldhave laughed themselves wet if they knew... only they were all dead, too.
"Screw this," Locklear said. "I'm still alive. I'm not going to die. And I'm not going to feelguilty for any of this."He laughed and told himself, "It's not like the entire universeERIC NYLUND283hasn't been trying to kill me off, though." Locklear turned to the robotic dolly. "Right,amigo?"Its treads spun, and the flatbed dolly turned to the right.
"No, no, stop." He sighed. "Man, I gotta buy myself a ticket out of this outfit. Next thing, I'llbe asking one of the Spartans out on a date... if I could even tell the boys from the girls inthat squad." He shuddered.
The doors of the large cargo elevator squeaked open; Lock.lear stepped off, and whistledfor the dolly to follow.
Storage Bay Two had racks and shelves that rose from the deck five meters to the ceiling.
He played his flashlight over the uneven surfaces. He spied a desk and terminal in thecorner.
"Hello, inventory control," he said. "The place to go for good.ies in any Navy outfit." Hestrode to the desk, sat down, and tapped in a search for medicinal-grade ethyl alcohol.
A tone chimed in his earpiece, and Cortana's voice said, "Cor.poral Locklear, I have anurgent request from Admiral—"Locklear squelched his COM. "Enough chatter, lady," he murmured. "The bar just opened."The location for MED34-CH3CH2OH popped on screen.
"B-I-N-G-O,"hesang.
Locklear jumped up. "Come on, amigo. You and me are going to throw a party."The deck lurched under Locklear's feet. "What the?... We're moving?" He turned theinventory display to face him and tapped in a command to switch to external cameramode.
Craggy asteroids moved past them—no, it was the Gettysburg that was moving. Locklearsquinted and saw a flash of blue. He magnified that part of the screen and found a dozenblurry blue flares from engine cones and the pulsing lateral lines filled with plasma.
Covenant ships.
"Ah hell," he said and backed away from the desk. "So much for happy hour."Something moved in his vest. Locklear reached in his pocket and pulled out the crystal Dr.
Halsey entrusted to his care. The elongated stone rippled, facets moved and rearrangedlike the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
He spied the same blue color on the inventory monitor—284HALO: FIRST STRIKEpinpricks of stretched space, the first indication of a Slip-space jump.
"I'm not going through another Slipspace fight," Locklear said through gritted teeth. "I'mnot going to let them follow us. Or let this thing shoot off a signal flare to every Covenant ship in the galaxy."He grabbed a can of C-7 off the dolly and dropped Dr. Halsey's crystal on the deck. He quickly covered the thing with the foam.ing explosive. It hardened to a stiff resin in a matter of seconds. Locklear grabbed a detonator, inserted it into the foam, andcon.nected it to a timer.
he dolly and dropped Dr. Halsey's crystal on the deck. He quickly covered the thing with the foam.ing explosive. It hardened to a stiff resin in a matter of seconds. Locklear grabbed a detonator, inserted it into the foam, andcon.nected it to a timer.
Why had the doc given him this to guard? She said because the ONI spooks wouldn't have the guts to get rid of it if they had to ... would maybe even let it fall into Covenant hands.That made sense, but, at the same time, there was something not quite right with thatexplanation.
Locklear looked at the monitor and the pinpoints of light that now almost blotted out thestars.
Screw it.
He had his own reasons to blow this thing up—like not want.ing to die in another space battle. Like maybe getting some pay.back for Polaski's death. The Covenant rat-bastardswanted it so bad? Well, screw them, too.
"This one's for you, Polaski," he whispered.
Locklear set the timer for three seconds, and punched the countdown. He dived for cover behind the robotic dolly and cov.ered his head.
The brilliant flash of sapphire light was the last thing he ever saw.