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"We’ll know soon," he told her
They crouched, weapons at the ready, and moved slowly down the corridor, John and Kelly in front
They rounded a corner and stopped at another set of pressure doors John grabbed the sea on," Kelly said She knelt next to a pad with nine buttons Each button was inscribed with runic alien script "These characters are strange, but one of them has to open this" She touched one and it lit, then she keyed another Gas hissed into the corridor "At least the pressure is equalized," she said
John double-checked sensors Nothingthough the alienthe scans
"Try another," Sam said
She did--and the doors slid apart
The room was inhabited
An alien creature stood a meter and half tall, a biped Its knobby, scaled skin was a sickly,the crest of its skull and its forear, bulbous eyes protruded froated head
The Master Chief had read the UNSC’s first contact scenarios--they called for cautious atte with so It reminded him of the carrion birds on Reach--vicious and unclean
The creature stood there, frozen for aat the hu on its belt, itsand birdlike
The Spartans shouldered their weapons and fired a trio of bursts with pinpoint accuracy
Ar its chest and head It crumpled into a heap without a sound, dead before it hit the deck Thick blood oozed froed the creature with his boot "They sure aren’t as tough as their ships"
"Let’s hope it stays that way," John replied
"I’estured deeper into the vessel
They continued down the corridor and took a side branch Kelly dropped a NAV le pulsed once on their heads-up displays
They stopped at another set of pressure doors Sa positions to cover her
Kelly punched the same buttons she had punched before and the doors slid apart
Another of the creatures was there It stood in a circular rooeThis time, however, the vulture-headed creature didn’t screary
The creature held a clawlike device in its hand--leveled at John
John and Kelly fired Bullets filled the air and pinged off a silver shi barrier in front of the creature
A bolt of blue heat blasted from the claw The blast was similar to the plasma that had hit the Commonwealthand boiled a third of it away
Sam dove forward and knocked John out of the blast’s path; the energy burst caught Sa of his MJOLNIR ared to fire his weapon
John and Kelly rolled on their backs and sprayed gunfire at the creature
Bullets peppered the alien--each one bounced and ricocheted off the energy shield
John glanced at his a," he ordered
The alien kept up a streay blasts hammered into Saed forward and slammed his foot into the alien’s shield and knocked it out of line He jarounds punctured the alien and spattered the back ith blood and bits of bone
John rose and helped Sa "Just a little singed" The reflective coating on his armor was blackened
"You sure?"
Sa bits of the alien He spotted a glint of uard, and he picked it up He tapped one of three buttons on the device, but nothing happened He strapped in onto his forearht find it useful
They entered the rooe as a half-e chath of the chath, like a liquid sloshing back and forth
Under the , on their side, rested a sled surface--perhaps a control panel? On its surface were tiny syot to be the source of the radiation," Kelly said, and pointed to the chamber beyond "Their reactoror maybe a weapons system"
Another alien marched near the cylinder It spotted John A silver shimmer appeared around it It screeched and wobbled in alarot an idea" Sam limped forward "Hand me those warheads" John did as he asked, so did Kelly
"We shoot out that , set the timers on the warheads, and toss them down there That should start the party"
"Let’s do it before they call in reinforcements," John said
They turned and fired at the crystal It crackled, splintered, then shattered
"Toss those warheads," Saet out of here"
John set the tih tiet away"
He turned to Sam "You’ll have to stay and hold the about?" Kelly said
"Sa" He looked at John and then Kelly He turned and showed them the burn in the side of his suit There was a hole the size of his fist, and beneath that, the skin was blackened and cracked He s," Kelly said "We’ll get you patched up in no tiet back--" Her mouth slowly dropped open
"Exactly," Sa to be a problem for me"
"The hole" John reached out to touch it "We don’t have any way to seal it"
Kelly shook her head
"If I step off this boat, I’ed
"No," Kelly growled "No--everyone gets out alive We don’t leave teammates behind"
"He has his orders," John told Kelly
"You’ve got to leave ive me your suit It took those techs on Damascus fifteen minutes to fit us I wouldn’t even knohere to start to unzip this thing"
John looked to the deck The Chief had told him he’d have to send men to their deaths He didn’t tell hi," Sa to wait for us while we figure this out" He started the timers "There It’s decided" A three-minute countdown appeared in the corner of their heads-up displays "Now--get going, you two"
John clasped Sam’s hand and squeezed it
Kelly hesitated, then saluted
John turned and grabbed her arm "Come on, Spartan Don’t look back"
The truth was, it was John who didn’t dare look back If he had, he would have stayed with Sam Better to die with a friend than leave hiside his friend, he had to set an exaht another day
John and Kelly pushed the pressure doors shut behind them
"Good-bye," he whispered
The countdown timer ticked the seconds off inexorably
2:35
They ran down the corridor, popped the seal on the outer door--the ath the twisted h the hull
0:33
"There," John said, and pointed to the base of a charged pulse laser They crawled toward it, waited as the glow built to a lethal charge
0:12
They crouched and held onto one another
The laser fired
The heat blistered John’s back They pushed off with all their strength, h the MJOLNIR armor
0:00
The shield parted and they cleared the ship, hurtling into the blackness
The Covenant ship shuddered Flashes of red appeared inside the hole--then a gout of fire rose and ballooned, but curled doard as it hit and rebounded off their own shield The plasth of their vessel The shield shi the destructive force inside
Metal glowed and melted The pulse laser turrets absorbed into the hull The hull blistered, bubbled, and boiled
The shield finally gave--the ship exploded
Kelly clung to John
A thousand e to red and then disappearing into the dark of the night
Sam’s death had shown them that the Covenant were not invincible They could be beaten At a high cost, however
John finally understood what the Chief had meant--the difference between a life wasted and a life spent
John also knew that huo to war