Page 34 (1/2)
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
0534 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar)
UNSC Pillar of Autumn , Epsilon Eridani Systeency thrusters The ship slid out of the path of the asteroid,them did not It impacted the city-sized rock and sent fountains ofinto space
Nine of the ten teardrop-shaped Covenant fighters--nicknaed the asteroid as well The tenth ship slae’s view screen
The other single ships accelerated and swar her with pulse laser fire
"Cortana," Captain Keyes said, "activate our point defense syste away at the Covenant ships’ shields
"Already engaged, Captain," Cortana said calmly
"Ensign Lovell," Captain Keyes said "Engines all stop and bring us about one hundred eighty degrees
Lieutenant Hikowa, ready our MAC gun and ar solution that has our Archerwith the third MAC round"
"On it, sir," Lieutenant Hikowa replied
"Aye, sir," Ensign Lovell said "Answering engines all stop Coines sputtered and died Navigational thrusters fired and rotated the ship to face the real threat--a Covenant carrier
The enormous alien craft had materialized aft of the Pillar of Autule ships
The carrier had then launched two salvos of plas the asteroid field
Cortanayacht; she ni rocks, used them to screen Covenant plasma and pulse laser bolts
But the Pillar of Autue fro solution online, sir," Lieutenant Hikowa said "MAC gun hot and missile safety interlocks removed Ready to launch"
"Fire missiles at will, Lieutenant"
Rapid-fire thuh the Pillar of Autumn ’s hull and a swar carrier
"MAC gun is hot," Hikowa said "Booster capacitors ready Firing in eight seconds, sir"
"I must make one small adjustment to your trajectory, Lieutenant," Cortana said "Covenant single ships are concentrating their attacks on our underside Captain? With your per solution recalculated," Cortana said "Hang on"
Cortana fired thrusters and the Pillar of Autuht the majority of her 50hters underneath her
Overlapping fields of fire wore down their shields--punctured their arh the pilots with a hail of projectiles, and peppered their reactors Nine puffs of fire dropped behind the Pillar of Autule ships destroyed," Cortana said "Approaching firing position"
"Cortana, give me a countdown Lieutenant Hikowa, fire on my mark" Captain Keyes said
"Ready to fire, aye," Lieutenant Hikowa said
Cortana nodded; her trie holotank As she nodded, a ti down rapidly
Keyes gripped the edge of the colued to the countdown Three seconds, two, one"Mark"
"Firing!" Hikowa answered
A triple flash of lightning saturated the forward view screen and bled in from the viewport; three white-hot projectiles crossed the black distance between the Pillar of Autu the side of the carrier, es of their plasma weapons
Archer missiles were pinpoints of exhaust in the distance; the carrier’s pulse lasers fired andmissiles
The Pillar of Autumn rolled to starboard and dove
Captain Keyes floated in free fall for a heartbeat, then landed aardly on the deck The crenellated surface of an asteroid appeared on their port carateful that he never had time to initialize the Pillar of Autu MAC rounds struck the carrier The shield flashed once, twice The third round got through--gutting the ship from stem to stern
The carrier spun sideways Her shields stuttered once, trying to reestablish a protective screen A hundred Archer missiles struck, cratered the hull, blosso metal
The alien carrier listed and crashed into the asteroid the Pillar of Autumn had just narrowly avoided It stuck there, hull broken and cracked Columns of fire blossohed A victory
The Spartans, however, would not be taking that ship into Covenant space It wasn’t going anywhere
"Cortana, mark the location of the destroyed ship and the asteroid We e her later"
"Yes, Captain"
"Ensign Lovell," Captain Keyes said, "turn us around and give me best speed to rally point Zulu"
Lovell tapped the thrusters and rotated the Pillar of Autuines shook the decks as the ship accelerated in-system
"ETA twenty minutes at best speed, sir"
The battle for Reach could be over by the tih Slipspace for short, precision jumps like the Covenant That carrier had materialized a kilometer behind the Pillar of AutumnIf he had that kind of accuracy, he could be at the rally point now--and be of some use Any attempt to jump in-system, however, would be foolish at best At worst, it would be a fatal ets varied by hundreds of thousands of kilometers Theoretically, they could reenter nornification on the fore cameras"
"Aye sir," she said
The view on the forward screen zoomed in--jumped and refocused on planet Reach
Twenty thousand kilometers from the planet, a cluster of a hundred UNSC ships collected at rally point Zulu: destroyers, frigates, three cruisers, two carriers--and three refit and repair stations hovering over the to be used as sacrificial shields
"Fifty-two additional UNSC warships inbound to rally point Zulu," Cortana reported
"Shift focus to section four by four on-screen, Cortana Show me those Covenant forces"
The scene blinked and transferred to the approaching Covenant fleet There were so many ships Captain Keyes couldn’t estimate their numbers
"How many?" he asked
"I count three hundred fourteen Covenant ships, Captain," Cortana replied
Captain Keyes couldn’t tear his gaze away from the ships The UNSC only won battles with the Covenant when they outnumbered the enemy forces three to onenot the other way around
They had one advantage: the MAC orbital guns around Reach--the UNSC’s most powerful nonnuclear weapon So stick"
Their linear accelerator coils were larger than a UNSC cruiser They propelled a three-thousand-ton projectile at tremendous speed, and could reload within five seconds They dreer directly from the fusion reactor cole, Cortana Let me see the entire battle area"
The Covenant ships accelerated toward Reach The fleet at rally point Zulu fired their MAC guns and uns opened fire as well--twenty streaks of white hot ht
The Covenant answered by launching a salvo of plasuns--so much fire in space that it looked like a solar flare
Deadly arcs of flaines of the three refit stations flared to life and the platelike shipsvapor