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298
HALO: FIRST STRIKE
edge of the hatch, and his arms failed to respond. Five hundred
ships? There was more firepower here than he had ever seen be-
fore. This fleet would easily overwhelm any UNSC defensive
force—whether or not the Admiral got through with his warning.
Their opening salvo would be a tidal wave of plasma, and it
would obliterate Earth's orbital fortresses before they could fire
a shot.
A thousand kilometers below, space rippled, parted, and seven
more cruisers appeared in normal space. They maneuvered to
join the rest of the pack.
John realized he had seen this magnitude of destructive
power: Halo. The ring was a weapon designed to kill all sentient
life for dozens of light-years in every direction.
And he had stopped that threat. He could stop this one, too.
He had to.
His plan called for the infiltration and destruction of their
command-and-control station. But how would that stop this
gathering offeree? It wouldn't... but it might buy Earth enough
time to come up with a plan to counter this seemingly invincible
armada.
"You said they've pinged us three times?" John asked Cortana.
"Affirmative. They've been curious about our status, but not
as much as you might expect. There's a tremendous amount of
COM traffic. They're probably only interested in us as a naviga-
tion hazard."
"Send a signal and explain that our engines are crippled and
we'll need assistance to move. Let's see if we can get them to
take us to this central station for repairs."
"Sending message now."
The Master Chief piped what he was seeing to Blue Team.
"Time to wake up," he said. "Armor and weapons check on the
double."
There was a pause of several seconds before Blue Team's ac-
knowledgment lights pulsed in his HUD. He knew they were
having the same reaction of fear, and then drawing the same con-
clusion as he had about their mission. They couldn't fail: The
fate of humanity lay in their hands.
John angled his head around to take a look at the dropship.
The majority of the dropship's hull had peeled away, and lead