“Cortana has picked up ship signatures on the Pillar of Autumn’s sensors,” Captain Keyes said. “She cannot be sure how many because of electrical interference, but there are more than a hundred alien ships inbound toward Reach. We have to go. We have our orders. The Section Three mission has to be scrubbed.”

“Sir? Scrubbed?” John had never had a mission canceled.

“Reach is our strategic headquarters and our biggest ship-building facility, Master Chief. If the shipyards fall, then Dr. Halsey’s prediction of humanity having only months to survive will shrink to weeks.”

The Master Chief normally would never have contradicted a superior officer, but this time duty compelled him. “Sir, our two missions are not mutually exclusive.”

Captain Keyes lit his pipe—in defiance of three separate regulations of igniting a combustible on a USNC ship. He puffed once and thoughtfully examined the smoke. “What do you have in mind, Master Chief?”

“A hundred alien vessels, sir. Between the combined force of the fleet and Reach’s orbital gun platforms, it is almost guaranteed there will be a disabled ship my squad can board and capture.”

Captain Keyes mulled this over. “There will also be hundreds of ships exchanging fire with one another. Missiles, nukes... Covenant plasma torpedoes.”

“Just get us close enough,” the Master Chief said. “Punch a hole in their shields long enough for us to get on their hull. We’ll do the rest.”

Captain Keyes chewed on his pipe. He tucked it into the cup of his hand. “There are operational complications with your plan. Cortana has been running the Pillar of Autumn’s shakedown. We have our own AI, but by the time we get it initialized and running this ship—the battle may be over.”

“I see, sir.”

Captain Keyes gazed a moment at the Master Chief, then sighed. “If there is a disabled Covenant ship and if we are close enough to it and if we’re not blown to a million bits by the time we get there, then I’ll transfer Cortana to you. I’ve flown ships without an AI before.” Captain Keyes managed a weak smile, but it quickly disappeared.

“Yes, sir!”

“We’ll be at rally point Zulu in twenty minutes, Master Chief. Have your team ready by then... for anything.”

“Sir.” He saluted.

Captain Keyes returned the salute and entered the elevator, puffing on his pipe and shaking his head.

The Master Chief turned to his teammates. They halted what they were doing.

“You all heard. This is it. Fred and James, I want to you to refit one of our Pelicans. Get every scrap of C-12 and shape a charge on her nose. If Captain Keyes downs a Covenant shield, we may have to blast our way into the ship’s hull.”

Fred and James replied, “Aye, sir.”

“Linda, assemble a team and get into every crate ONI packed for us—distribute that gear ASAP. Make sure everyone gets a thruster pack, plenty of ammo, grenades, and Jackhammer launchers if we have them. If we do get on board, we may encounter those armored Covenant types again—this time I want the firepower to take them out.”

“Yes, sir!”

The Spartans scrambled to make ready for the mission.

The Master Chief approached Kelly. On a private COM channel, he told her, “Crate thirteen on the manifest has three HAVOK nuclear mines. Get them. I have the arming cards. Ready them for transport.”

“Affirmative.” She paused.

The Master Chief couldn’t see her face past the reflective shield of her helmet, but he knew her well enough to know that the tiny slump of her shoulders meant that she was worried.

“Sir?” she said. “I know this mission will be tough, but... do you ever get the feeling that this is like one of Chief Mendez’s missions? Like there’s a trick... some twist that we’ve overlooked?”

“Yes,” he replied. “And I’m waiting for it.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

0534 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar)

UNSC Pillar of Autumn, Epsilon Eridani System

The Pillar of Autumn detonated its port emergency thrusters. The ship slid out of the path of the asteroid, missing it by ten meters—

—The Covenant plasma trailing them did not. It impacted the city-sized rock and sent fountains of molten iron and nickel spewing into space.

Nine of the ten teardrop-shaped Covenant fighters—nicknamed “Seraphs” by ONI—dodged the asteroid as well. The tenth ship slammed into the asteroid and vanished from the bridge’s view screen.

The other single ships accelerated and swarmed around the Pillar of Autumn, harassing her with pulse laser fire.

“Cortana,” Captain Keyes said, “activate our point defense system.”

The Pillar of Autumn’s 50mm cannons flashed—chipping 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 arm Archer missile pods A1 through A7. I want a firing solution that has our Archer missiles hitting with the third MAC round.”

“On it, sir,” Lieutenant Hikowa replied.

“Aye, sir,” Ensign Lovell said. “Answering engines all stop. Coming about. Brace yourselves.”

The Pillar of Autumn’s engines 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 Autumn and launched their single ships. The carrier had then launched two salvos of plasma—which Captain Keyes had only shaken by entering the asteroid field.

Cortana maneuvered the massive Pillar of Autumn like it was a sporting yacht; she nimbly dodged tumbling rocks, used them to screen Covenant plasma and pulse laser bolts.

But the Pillar of Autumn would emerge from the asteroid field in twenty seconds.

“Firing solution online, sir,” Lieutenant Hikowa said. “MAC gun hot and missile safety interlocks removed. Ready to launch.”

“Fire missiles at will, Lieutenant.”

Rapid-fire thumps echoed though the Pillar of Autumn’s hull and a swarm of Archer missiles sped toward the incoming 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 permission?”

“Granted,” Keyes said.

“Firing solution recalculated,” Cortana said. “Hang on.”

Cortana fired thrusters and the Pillar of Autumn rotated belly up—brought the majority of her 50mm cannons to bear on the Covenant Seraph fighters underneath her.

Overlapping fields of fire wore down their shields—punctured their armored hulls with a thousand rounds, tore through the pilots with a hail of projectiles, and peppered their reactors. Nine puffs of fire dropped behind the Pillar of Autumn and vanished into the darkness.

“Enemy single 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 trim figure projected in miniature inside the bridge holotank. As she nodded, a time display appeared, the numbers counting down rapidly.

Keyes gripped the edge of the command chair, his eyes glued 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 Autumn and the Covenant carrier.