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186
HALO: FIRST STRIKE
I want you back in that hole ASAP. Plug it up. We don't want to
leave our back door wide open."
"Aye, sir," Polaski replied.
Admiral Whitcomb addressed Li. "You're our rear guard, son.
Stay here and guard the ship with Polaski. Sorry."
"Sir! Yes, sir," Li replied. The Master Chief detected a hint of
bitterness in the Spartan's voice for drawing what he undoubt-
edly would think was soft duty.
Their dropship eased lower until it was a meter above the blue
tiles of the room; the side hatches opened. The Chief jumped out
first, followed by Anton, Lieutenant Haverson, and Locklear.
From the hatch on the opposite side leapt the Admiral, Sergeant
Johnson, and Grace.
The dropship immediately rose into the hole in the ceiling, far
enough in to be shielded from any stray ground fire.
"Move, everyone," the Admiral growled. He pointed at Grace
and Locklear. "You two, fire long-range weapons. Everyone
else, haul ass. Take them out, people."
The Admiral's plan was sound. He wasn't risking the
dropship—their only means of escape—by landing too close to
the enemy. They still had the element of surprise; the Covenant
would have never anticipated an assault on the heart of their
operation.
But how long would this advantage last? How long before that
cruiser blasted their dropship to atoms? The Covenant were not
their most dangerous enemy. Time was.
Grace paused, muscled the fuel rod gun to a forty-five-degree
angle into the air, and launched a round. The alien weapon
hissed and spat a glowing sphere of energy. The blast arced over
the half-kilometer distance, impacted, and exploded in a green
flash. Grunts and Jackals flew through the air.
Locklear fired two Jackhammer rockets, then dropped the
spent launcher. The pair of rockets connected with a cluster of
Elites who had—until a second ago—been running the show.
The twin explosion obscured that end of the room with billow-
ing clouds of dust, fire, and smoke.
The Master Chief motioned for his team to spread out and
move forward at a jog.