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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
1930 hours, September 12,2552 (revised date, Military
Calendar)\Captured Covenant flagship Ascendant Justice, in
Slipspace en route to Eridanus system.
Black space churned with pinpricks of light; it split, and the
Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice appeared in the Eridanus system.
The Master Chief stood on the Gettysburg's bridge. He'd
wanted to be on the medical deck when Dr. Halsey had finished
with Linda, be there when she woke up .. . or be there in case
she never woke up. But he had to be here; this was his idea, and
he was the closest thing they had to an expert on this place.
"Systems check," Admiral Whitcomb ordered.
Lieutenant Haverson leaned over the ops console and flicked
through several screens. "Residual radiation fading," he said.
"Navigation systems and scanners coming back online."
Fred stood at the Engineering station and reported, "Reactors
at sixty percent. Slight hysteresis leak in coil ten. Compensating."
"Plasma?" the Admiral asked as he settled into the Captain's
chair.
Cortana's ghostly image flickered onto the holographic pad
next to the star chart.
"We can fire only one turret," she replied, and a wash of red
flashed across her image then cooled to its normal deep blue.
"The other two functional turrets are offline; their magnetic
coils refuse to align. It might be a side effect of the artifact's
radiation."
"One shot..." the Admiral muttered. He tugged on the end
of his mustache and sighed. "Then we'll just have to make it
count." He turned to the Master Chief. "Lead the way, son."