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CHAPTER ONE
0622 hours, August 30,2552 (Military Calendar)\ UNSC
Vessel Pillar of Autumn, Epsilon Eridani system near
Reach Station Gamma.
SPARTAN-104, Frederic, twirled a combat knife, his fingers
nimble despite the bulky MJOLNIR combat armor that encased
his body. The blade traced a complicated series of graceful arcs
in the air. The few remaining Naval personnel on the deck turned
pale and averted their eyes—a Spartan wielding a knife was gen-
erally accompanied by the presence of several dead bodies.
He was nervous, and this was more than the normal pre-mission
jitters. The team's original objective—the capture of a Covenant
ship—had been scrubbed in the face of a new enemy offensive.
The Covenant were en route to Reach, the last of the United Na-
tions Space Command's major military strongholds.
Fred couldn't help but wonder what use ground troops would
be in a ship-to-ship engagement. The knife spun.
Around him, his squadmates loaded weapons, stacked gear,
and prepped for combat, their efforts redoubled since the ship's
Captain had personally come down to the mustering area to brief
the team leader, SPARTAN-117—but Fred was already squared
away. Only Kelly had finished stowing gear before him.
He balanced the point of the knife on his armored finger. It
hung there for several seconds, perfectly still.
A subtle shift in the Pillar of Autumn's gravity caused the
knife to tip. Fred plucked it from the air and sheathed it in a single
deft move. A cold feeling filled his stomach as he realized what
the gravity fluctuation meant: The ship had just changed
course—another complication.