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HALO: FIRST STRIKE
Everyone planetside was busy evacuating—which was the right
thing to do—but I had to stay behind." Several emotions played
across the Admiral's face: concern, amusement... and then his
features settled into a firm stare as he looked into the past, recalling
what happened.
"We'd been working on a new bomb, called the Nova. It was a
cluster of nukes, each with a lithium triteride casing. Now, these
things, in theory, when they detonate, not only make a big bang
like you expect a nuke to—but they also force their tritium cases
together in one big superheated and pressurized center." He
made a fist and slammed it into his other palm for emphasis.
"Boosts the yield a hundredfold." A grin spread across his face.
"Planet killers. We had planned to use these things in space bat-
tles to level the playing field."
His grin faded and he stroked his mustache. "Well, things
didn't quite turn out as planned, and we got caught flat-footed
with those Novas on the ground. So I decided to repurpose
them."
Lieutenant Haverson's face wrinkled with confusion. He
didn't dare interrupt, but the Admiral saw his expression and
said, "Think, son. All that ordnance around with plenty of Cove-
nant to blow up."
Haverson shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir. I still don't
understand."
"Intelligence officer, huh?" Whitcomb snorted and turned to
the Master Chief. "What would you have done?"
"Arm them, sir," the Master Chief replied. "Activate the fail-
safe tampering detonators and start a countdown timer. Say, two
weeks."
The Admiral nodded. "I gave it only ten days. There's no need
to give them too much time to tinker."
He set one of his heavy hands on Lieutenant Haverson's
shoulder, and Haverson flinched. "They are two possible out-
comes to this plan, Lieutenant. Either the Covenant pack up the
Novas and take them home for study—a possibility I pray to
God happens. A bomb like that would crack their home world in
half. Or the bombs stay here—and they'll stop the Covenant on
Reach."