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HALO: FIRST STRIKE
Fred wrenched the Banshee's controls and arced the craft
under the edge of the ship; Kelly was right behind him. The
light vanished, and they emerged on the far side of the Covenant
vessel.
Behind them, distorted through the gravity lift, Fred saw
Covenant troops firing their weapons into the sky. He heard ten
thousand voices screaming for blood.
Fred pinged Joshua on the COM, but his acknowledgment
light remained dark.
He wanted to slow and turn back for him, but Kelly dived, ac-
celerating toward the ground, and she entered the forest that car-
peted the mountainside. Fred followed her. They were scant
meters above the ground; they dodged trees and blasted through
tangles of foliage. A handful of stray shots flashed overhead.
They flew at top speed and didn't look back.
They emerged from the tree line and over the powdered snow
of the mountaintop. They arced over a granite ridge, came about,
and throttled back. The Banshees drifted slowly to the ground.
The sky turned white. Fred's faceplate polarized to its darkest
setting. Thunder rolled though his body. Fire and molten metal
blossomed over the ridge, boiled skyward, and rained back into
the valley. The granite top of the intervening mountain shattered
into dust and the snow on their side melted in muddy rivulets.
Fred's visor slowly depolarized.
Kelly leaned across her Banshee. Blood oozed from her ar-
mor's left shoulder joint. She fumbled for her helmet seal, caught it,
and peeled it off her head. "Did we get 'em?" she panted. Blood
foamed from the corner of her mouth.
"I think so," Fred told her.
She looked around. "Joshua?"
Fred shook his head. "He got hit on the way in."
It had been easy for him to fly into the face of certain death
moments ago. Saying those words was a hundred times harder.
Kelly slumped and dropped her head back against her
Banshee.
"Stay here, I'm going up to take a look." Fred powered up his
Banshee and rose parallel with the ridgeline. He nudged the
craft up a little farther and got his first look into the valley.