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ERIC NYLUND
55
The Chief said nothing, but he agreed. Despite the ODST's
foul disposition, he shared his uneasiness with space combat.
"Amen," Sergeant Johnson added. "Now shut up and let the
lady drive." He removed a mission record unit from his pocket
and inserted a chip. The screen blanked; a rhythmic cacophony
blasted from its single tiny speaker.
The Chief recognized the sound as "flip" music—a descen-
dant of some centuries-old noise called "metal." The Sarge had
peculiar tastes, to say the least.
"Just shoot me now, Sarge," Locklear protested, "and get it
over with. Don't torture me with that crap first."
"Suck it up, Marine. This is a classic."
"So's a mercy killing."
Polaski continued to evade, and the Longsword rolled and
jinked port and starboard. She sent the ship into a double barrel
roll'to dodge a plasma torpedo fired from the flagship.
"Show-off," Cortana muttered in the Chief's helmet speaker.
"Connecting to the Covenant battlenet," Cortana announced
over the ship COM. "Accessing their weapons systems. Stand by."
Ahead, the Pelican intercepted a second torpedo and burst
into flames, vaporized, and smeared across the night as a cloud
of sparkling ionized metal.
The flagship appeared on the forward viewscreen—no larger
than a dinner plate.
"No more time to play around," Polaski muttered. She hit the
afterburners and rocketed toward the flagship.
The sudden acceleration sent the Chief and Sergeant Johnson
bouncing to the aft of the Longsword. Locklear still hung on to
the frame, now nearly horizontal.
"There is now insufficient distance to decelerate and make a
soft landing inside the flagship launch bay," Cortana warned.
"Really?" Polaski replied, irritated. "No wonder they call you
'smart' AIs." She tugged her cap lower over her eyes. "I'll do the
flying. You concentrate on getting those weapons offline."
"They're launching fighters," Haverson warned. On the
viewscreen the Covenant flagship now filled half the display,
and six Seraph fighters emerged from the belly of the massive
ship. "I've still got active signals from twenty of the Moray mines.