CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

0637 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar)

Epsilon Eridani System, Reach Station Gamma

“Multiple signals on motion tracker,” the Master Chief said. “They’re all around us.”

The passageway behind the Master Chief and Blue-One swarmed with blips. So did docking Bay Nine, ahead of them. The Master Chief saw, however, not all the blips were hostiles. Four Marine friend-or-foe tags strobed on his heads-up display: SGT. JOHNSON, PVT. O’BRIEN, PVT. BISENTI, and PVT. JENKINS.

The Master Chief opened up a COM channel to them. “Listen up, Marines. Your lines of fire are sloppy; tighten them up. Concentrate on one Jackal at a time—or you’ll just waste your ammo on their shields.”

“Master Chief?” Sergeant Johnson said, startled. “Sir, yes sir!”

“Blue-One,” the Master Chief said. “I’m going in. We’re going to open up the Circumference like a tin can.” He nodded toward the Pelican in the adjacent bay. “Give me a few grenades over the top.”

“Understood,” she replied. “You’re covered, sir.” She primed two frag grenades, swung around the pressure doors, and threw them behind the Jackals.

The Master Chief pushed off the wall—propelled himself in the zero gee across the bay.

The grenades detonated and caught the Jackals on their backsides. Blue blood spattered on the insides of their shields and across the deck.

The Master Chief crashed into the Pelican’s hull. He pulled himself to the side hatch, opened it, and crawled in. He got into the cockpit, released the docking clamps, and tapped the maneuvering thrusters once to break free.

The Pelican lifted off the deck.

The Master Chief said over the COM channel, “Marines and Blue-One: take cover behind me.” He maneuvered the Pelican into the center of the docking bay.

A dozen Jackals poured in through the passage that Blue-One had just left.

The Master Chief fired with the Pelican’s autocannon—cut down their shields and peppered the aliens with hundreds of rounds. They exploded into chunks; alien blood twisted crazily in zero gravity.

“Master Chief,” Linda said, “I’m picking up thousands of signals on the motion tracker, inbound from all directions. The entire station is crawling.”

The Master Chief opened the Pelican’s back hatch. “Get in,” he said. Blue-One and the Marines piled inside.

The Marines did a double take at Blue-One and the Master Chief in their MJOLNIR armor.

The Master Chief turned the Pelican to face the Circumference. He sighted the autocannon on the ship’s forward viewports—and opened fire. Thousands of rounds streamed from the chain-gun and cracked through the thick, transparent windows. He followed up with an Anvil-II missile. It blasted through the prow and peeled the craft open.

“Take the controls,” he told Blue-One.

He slipped out the side hatch and jumped to the Circumference. The inside of the ship’s cockpit was scrap metal. He accessed the computer panel in the floor deck and located the NAV database core. It was a cube of memory crystal the size of his thumb. Such a tiny thing to cause so much trouble.

He shot it three times with his assault rifle. It shattered.

“Mission completed,” he said. One small victory in all this mess. The Covenant wouldn’t find Earth... today.

He exited the Circumference. Jackals appeared on the level above them in the docking bay. His motion tracker blinked with solid contacts.

He jumped back into the Pelican, strapped himself in the pilot’s chair, and turned the ship to face the outer doors.

“Blue-One, signal the dockmaster AI to open the outer bay doors.”

“Signal sent,” she said. “No response, sir.” She looked around. “There’s a manual release by the outer door.” She moved toward the aft hatch. “I’ll get this one, sir. It’s my turn. Cover me.”

“Roger, Blue-One. Keep your head down. I’ll draw their fire.”

She launched herself out the back hatch.

The Master Chief tapped the Pelican’s thrusters and the ship rose higher in the bay—up to the second level. The upper decks were the mechanic bays; the area was littered with ships that were partially disassembled in various stages of repair. It was also where a hundred Jackals and a handful of Elite warriors were waiting for him.

They opened fire. Plasma bolts scored the hull of the Pelican.

The Master Chief fired the chain-gun and let loose a salvo of missiles. Alien shields blazed and failed. Blue and green blood splashed and flash-froze in the icy vacuum.

He hit the top thrusters and dropped down to the lower level—slammed the ship back into a berth for cover.

Blue-One crouched by the manual release. The outer doors eased open, revealing the night and stars beyond. “You’re clear for exit, Master Chief. We’re home free—”

A new contact on the Pelican’s targeting display appeared—right behind Linda. He had to warn her—

A bolt of plasma struck her in the back. Another blot of fire blazed her from the upper decks and splashed across her front. She crumpled—her shields flickered and went out. Two more bolts hit her chest. A third blast smashed into her helmet.

“No!” the Master Chief said. He felt each of those plasma bolts as if they had hit him, too.

He moved the Pelican to cover her. Plasma struck the hull, melting its outer skin.

“Get her inside!” he ordered the Marines.

They jumped out, grabbed Linda and her smoldering armor, and pulled her inside the Pelican.

The Master Chief sealed the hatch, ignited the engines and pushed them to full thrust—rocketing into space.

“Can you fly this ship?” he asked the Marine Sergeant.

“Yes, sir,” Johnson replied.

“Take over.”

The Master Chief went to Linda and knelt by her side. Sections of her armor had melted and adhered to her. Underneath, in patches, bits of carbonized bone showed. He accessed her vital signs on his heads-up display. They were dangerously low.

“Did you do it?” she whispered. “Get the database?”

“Yes. We got it.”

“Good,” she said. “We won.” She clasped his hand and closed her eyes.

Her vital signs flat-lined.

John squeezed her hand and let go. “Yes,” he said bitterly. “We won.”

“Master Chief, come in.” Captain Keyes voice sounded over the COM channel. “The Pillar of Autumn will be in rendezvous position in one minute.”

“We’re ready, Captain,” he answered. He set Linda’s hand over her chest. “I’m ready.”

The instant the Master Chief docked the Pelican to the Pillar of Autumn, he felt the cruiser accelerate.

He took Linda’s body double time to a cryo chamber and immediately froze her. She was clinically dead—there was no doubt of that. Still, if they could get her to a Fleet hospital, they might be able to resuscitate her. It was a long shot—but she was a Spartan.

The med techs wanted to check him out as well, but he declined and took the elevator to the bridge to report to Captain Keyes.

As he rode inside the lift he felt the ship accelerate port—then starboard. Evasive maneuvers.

The elevator doors parted and the Master Chief stepped onto the bridge.

He snapped a crisp salute to Captain Keyes. “Reporting for debriefing, sir.”

Captain Keyes turned and looked surprised to see him... or maybe he was shocked to see the condition of his armor. It was charred, battered, and covered with alien blood.

The Captain returned the Master Chief’s salute. “The NAV database was destroyed?” he asked.

“Sir, I would not have left if my mission was incomplete.”

“Of course, Master Chief. Very good,” Captain Keyes replied.

“Sir, may I ask that you scan for active FOF tags in the region?” The Master Chief glanced at the main view screen—saw scattered fights between Covenant and UNSC warships in the distance. “I lost a man on the station. He may be floating out there... somewhere.”