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76
HALO: FIRST STRIKE
The ship spun to port. On the displays that still functioned,
four more Covenant cruisers tracked them—and fired.
The flagship accelerated, but the plasma torpedoes arced and
followed them. "No good," Cortana said. "I can't overcome our
inertia in this tub. They're going to hit us . . . unless I can get us
into Slipspace."
A rhythmic warble pulsed from one of the displays. It
flashed red.
"Oh no," Cortana said.
The leading plasma torpedo impacted. Dull red fire smeared
across the viewscreens.
"Oh no, what?" Haverson demanded.
"This ship's Slipspace generator is inert," Cortana replied.
"The disabled NAV controls were a trick. It must have been the
Covenant AI; it lured me here while the drive was physically de-
coupled from the reactor. I can maneuver all I want, give orders to
the Slipspace generator—but without the system powered up
were not going anywhere."
"There's a Covenant AI?" Haverson muttered, and raised an
eyebrow.
"Upload the coordinates to power coupling," the Master Chief
said. "I'll take care of it."
Two more plasma torpedoes impacted and splashed across the
shield. "Energy shields collapsing," Cortana said. "Brace!"
The last shot collided with the flagship. The hull heated, and
plasma boiled layers of armor plating away. The ship rolled as
plumes of superheated metal vapor outgassed.
"Another hit like that will breach the hull," Cortana said.
"Moving this tub at flank speed."
"The power coupling coordinates, Cortana," the Master Chief
insisted.
A route appeared on his heads-up display. The engineering
rooms were twenty decks below the bridge.
"Those won't do you any good," Cortana told him. "There
are bound to be Elite hunt-and-kill teams waiting for you. And
even if you managed to remove them, there is no way to repair
the power coupling in time. We don't have the tools or the
expertise."