Filter
Top Products
ERIC NYLUND
29
sphere of energy arced into the base of the tower. It began a grad-
ual tilt, then collapsed.
Kelly hadn't fired. Fred glanced her way and saw that she now
stood in a low crouch atop her racing Banshee. She had one foot
under the duct tape that had secured the nuke and now held the
bomb in her hand, cocking it back to throw.
A shard of jagged crystal, a round from a Covenant needier,
pinged off Fred's port shield. He snapped a look below.
Covenant Grunts and Jackals boiled in agitation—a hundred
badly aimed shots arced up after him; glistening clouds of crys-
talline needles and firefly plasma bolts swarmed through the air
and chipped away at his Banshee's fuselage.
Fred jinked his Banshee left and right, and dodged plasma
bolts from the three guard towers tracking him. He lined up for a
second strafing run, and the Banshee's lighter energy weapons
sent Grunts scattering.
A hundred meters to go.
Kelly leaned back, coiled her body, and readied to throw the
nuclear device as if it were a shotput.
The Covenant cruiser came to life, and its weapons tracked
the Banshees. A dozen fingers of plasma ripped the air;
white-blue arcs of fire reached for them.
One bolt connected with Joshua's ship. The Banshee's impro-
vised shields overloaded and vanished. The canards of the flier
melted and bent. The alien airship lurched into a spin as its con-
trol surfaces warped, and Joshua fell behind Fred and Kelly just
as they entered the gravity lift of the craft.
Fred keyed his COM to raise Joshua but got only static. Time
seemed to slow inside the beam of purple light that ferried goods
and troops to and from the belly of the ship. The strange glow
surrounded them and made his skin tingle as if it were asleep.
Their Banshees rose toward an opening in the underside of the
carrier. They weren't riding into the ship, though; they were trav-
eling too fast and would cross the beam before they were three
quarters of the way to the top.
Fred snapped around. He didn't see Joshua anywhere. Plasma
beams hit the well and were deflected as if it were a giant glass lens.
Kelly hurled the nuke straight up into the gullet of the cruiser.