John and the other Spartans1 stood at ease.
The briefing room aboard the UNSC DestroyerPioneer made him uncomfortable. The holographicprojectors at the fore2 end of the triangular3 room showed the field of stars visible off the bow of the ship.
John wasn’t used to seeing so much space; he kept expecting the room to decompress explosively.
The stars flickered4 and faded and the overhead lights warmed. Chief Petty Officer Mendez and Dr.
Halsey entered the room.
The Spartans snapped to attention.
“At ease,” Mendez said. He clasped his hands behind his back and clenched5 his jaw6 muscles. The Chieflooked almost . . . nervous.
That made John nervous, too.
Dr. Halsey walked to the podium. The overhead light reflected off her glasses. “Good morning,Spartans. I have good news for you. The word has come down. Command has decided7 to test yourunique abilities. You have a new mission: an insurgent8 base in the Eridanus System.”
A star map appeared on the wall and zoomed9 in to show a warm orange sun ringed with twelve planets.
“In 2513, an armed insurrection in this system was suppressed by the UNSC force—Operation:
TREBUCHET.”
An intersystem tactical map appeared, and tiny icons10 representing destroyers and carriers winked11 on.
They engaged a force of a hundred smaller ships. Pinpoints13 of fire appeared against the dark.
“The insurrection was put down,” Dr. Halsey continued. “However, elements of the rebel forces escapedand regrouped in the local asteroid14 belt.”
The map tilted15 and moved into the circle of debris16 around the star.
“Billions of rocks,” Dr. Halsey said, “where they hid from our forces . . . and continue to hide to thisday. For some time ONI believed that the rebels were disorganized, and were lacking in leadership. Thatappears to have changed.
“We believe that one of these asteroids17 has been hollowed out, and that a formidable base has beenconstructed within. UNSC explorations into the belt have met either with no contact or with an ambushby superior forces.”
She paused, pushed up her glasses, and added, “The Office of Naval18 Intelligence has also confirmed thatFLEETCOM has discovered a security breach19 within their organization—a rebel sympathizer leakinginformation to these forces.”
John and the other Spartans shifted uneasily. A leak? It was possible. Déjà had shown them manyhistorical battles that had been won and lost because of traitors20 or informants. But it never occurred tohim that it could happen in the UNSC.
A flat picture flashed over the star map: a middle-aged12 man with thinning hair, a neatly22 trimmed beard,and watery23 gray eyes.
“This is their leader,” Dr. Halsey said. “Colonel Robert Watts24. The original photo was taken afterOperation: TREBUCHET and has been computer aged.
“Your mission is to infiltrate25 the rebel base, capture Watts, and return him—alive and unharmed—toUNSC-controlled space. This will deprive the rebels of their new leadership. And it will provide ONI achance to interrogate26 Watts and root out traitors within FLEETCOM.”
Dr. Halsey stepped aside. “Chief Mendez?”
Mendez exhaled27 and unclasped his hands. He strode to the podium and cleared his throat. “Thisoperation will be different from your previous missions. You will be engaging the enemy using liverounds and lethal28 force. They will be returning the favor. If there is any doubt, any confusion—andmake no mistake: in combat, there will be confusion—takeno chances. Kill first, ask questions later.
“Support on this mission will be limited to the resources and firepower of this destroyer,” Mendezcontinued. “This is to minimize the chance of a leak in the command structure.”
Mendez walked to the star map. The face of Colonel Watts snapped off and blueprints29 for a Parabolaclassfreighter appeared.
“Although we don’t know the location of the rebel base, we believe they receive periodic shipmentsfrom Eridanus Two. The independent freighterLaden is due to leave space dock in six hours for a routinerecertification of her engines. She is being loaded with enough food and water to supply a small city.
Additionally, her captain has been identified as a rebel officer thought to have been killed duringOperation: TREBUCHET.
“You will slip aboard this freighter and hopefully hitch30 a ride to the rebel base. Once there, infiltrate theinstallation, grab Watts, and get off of that rock any way you can.”
Chief Mendez gazed at them all. “Questions?”
“Sir,” John said. “What are our extraction options?”
“You have two options: a panic button that will relay a distress31 signal to a preestablished listening ship.
Also, thePioneer will stay on-station . . . briefly32. Our window here is thirteen hours.” He tapped the starmap on the edge of the asteroid belt and it glowed with a blue Nav marker. “I’ll leave the extractionchoice up to you. But let me point out that this asteroid belt has a circumference33 of more than a billionkilometers . . . making it impossible to canvass34 with ONI surveillance craft. If things get hot, you will beon your own.
“Any other questions?”
The Spartans sat, silent and immobile.
“No? Well, listen up, Recruits,” Mendez added. “This time I’ve told you all the twists that I know of. Beprepared for anything.” His gaze fixed35 on John. “Squad Leader, you are hereby promoted to the rank ofPetty Officer Third Class.”
“Sir!” John snapped to attention.
“Assemble your team and equipment. Be ready to muster36 at 0300. We’ll drop you off at the EridanusTwo docks. You’re on your own from there.”
“Yes, sir!” John said.
Mendez saluted37. He and Dr. Halsey then left the room.
John turned to face his teammates. The other Spartans stood at attention. Thirty-three—too many for thisoperation. He needed a small team: five or six maximum.
“Sam, Kelly, Linda, and Fred, meet me in the weapons locker38 in ten minutes.” The other Spartans sighedand their gazed dropped to the deck. “The rest of you fall out. You’ll have the more difficult part of thismission: You’ll have to wait here.”
The weapons locker of thePioneer had been stocked with a bewildering array of combat equipment. Ona table were guns, knives, communication gear, body armor explosives, medical packs, survival gear,portable computers, even a thruster pack for maneuvering39 in space.
More important than the equipment, however, John assessed his team.
Sam had recovered from the augmentation faster than any of the other Spartans. He paced impatientlyaround the crates40 of grenades. He was the strongest of them all. He stood taller than John by a head. Hehad grown out his sandy hair to three centimeters. Chief Mendez had warned him that he was going tolook like a civilian41 soon.
Kelly, in contrast, had taken the longest to recover. She stood in the corner with her arms crossed overher chest. John had thought she wasn’t going to make it. She was still gaunt and her hair had yet to growback. Her face, however, still had its rough, angular beauty. She scared John a little, too. She was fastbefore . . . now no one could touch her if she didn’t allow it.
Fred sat cross-legged on the deck, twirling a razor-edged combat knife in glittering arcs. He alwayscame in second in all the contests. John thought he could have come in first, but he just didn’t like theattention. He was neither too short nor too tall. He wasn’t overly muscled or slim. His black hair wasshot with streaks42 of silver—a feature he hadn’t had before the augmentation. If anyone in the groupcould blend into a crowd, it would be him.
Linda was the quietest member of the group. She was pale, had close-cropped red hair, and green eyes.
She was a crack shot, an artist with a sniper rifle.
Kelly circled the table once, and then selected a pair of grease-stained blue coveralls. Her name had beensloppily embroidered43 on the chest. “These our new trainee44 uniforms?”
“ONI provided them,” John said. “They’re supposed to match what the crew of theLaden wears.”
Kelly held the coveralls up and frowned. “They don’t give a girl much to work with.”
“Try this on for size.” Linda held a black body suit up to Kelly’s long slender frame.
They had used these black suits before. They were form-fitting, lightweight polymer body armor. Theycould deflect45 a small-caliber46 round and had refrigeration/heating units that would mask infraredsignatures. The integrated helmet had encryption and communications gear, a heads-up display, andthermal and motion detectors47. Sealed tight, the unit had a fifteen-minute reserve of oxygen to let thewearer survive in vacuum.
The suits were uncomfortable, and they were tricky48 to repair in the field. And they always neededrepairs.
“They’re too tight,” Kelly said. “It’ll limit my range of motion.”
“We wear them for this op,” John told her. “There are too many places between here and there withnothing to breathe but vacuum. As for the rest of your equipment, take what you want—but stay light.
Without recon data on this place, we’re going to be moving fast . . . or we’ll be dead.”
The team started selecting their weapons first.
“Three-ninety caliber?” Fred asked.
“Yes,” John replied. “Everyone take guns that use .390-caliber ammunition49 so we can share clips if wehave to. Except Linda.”
Linda gravitated to a matte-black long-barreled rifle—the SRS99C-S2 AM. The sniper rifle system hadmodular sections: scopes, stocks, barrels, even the firing mechanism50 could be swapped51. She quicklystripped the rifle down and reconfigured it. She assembled a flash-and-sound suppression barrel, andthen to compensate52 for the lower muzzle53 velocity54, she increased the ammunition caliber to .450. Sheditched all the sights and scopes and settled for an integrated link to her helmet’s heads-up display. Shepocketed five extended ammunition clips.
John also chose an MA2B, a cut-down version of the standard MA5B assault rifle. It was tough andreliable, with electronic targeting and an ammo supply indicator55. It also had a recoil-reduction system,and could deliver an impressive fifteen rounds per second.
He picked up a knife: twenty-centimeter blade, one serrated edge, nonreflective titanium carbide, andbalanced for throwing.
John grabbed the panic button—a tiny single-shot emergency beacon56. It had two settings. The red settingalerted thePioneer that it had hit the fan, and to come in guns blazing. The green setting merely markedthe location of the base for later assault by the UNSC.
He took a double handful of ammo clips—then paused. He set them down and pocketed five. If they gotinto a firefight where he’d need that much firepower, their mission was over anyway.
Everyone took similar equipment, with a few variations. Kelly selected a small computer pad with IRlinks. She also had their field medical kit57.
Fred packed a standard-issue lockbreaker.
Linda selected three nav marker transmitters, each the size of a tick. The trackers could be adhered to anobject and would broadcast that object’s location to the Spartans’ heads-up displays.
Sam hefted two medium-size backpacks—“damage packs.” They were filled with C-12, enough highexplosives to blow through three meters of battleship armor plate.
“You have enough of that stuff?” Kelly asked him wryly58.
“You think I should take more?” Sam replied, and smiled. “Nothing like a little fireworks to celebratethe end of a mission.”
“Everyone ready?” John asked.
Sam’s smile disappeared and he slapped an extended clip into his MA2B. “Ready!”
Kelly gave him John a thumbs-up.
Fred and Linda nodded.
“Then let’s go to work.”
点击
收听单词发音
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1
spartans
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| n.斯巴达（spartan的复数形式） | |
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fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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triangular
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| adj.三角（形）的，三者间的 | |
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flickered
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| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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insurgent
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| adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子 | |
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zoomed
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| v.（飞机、汽车等）急速移动( zoom的过去式 )；（价格、费用等）急升，猛涨 | |
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icons
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| n.偶像( icon的名词复数 )；（计算机屏幕上表示命令、程序的）符号，图像 | |
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winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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pinpoints
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| 准确地找出或描述( pinpoint的第三人称单数 )； 为…准确定位 | |
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asteroid
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| n.小行星；海盘车(动物) | |
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tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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debris
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| n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片 | |
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asteroids
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| n.小行星( asteroid的名词复数 )；海盘车，海星 | |
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naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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traitors
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| 卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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watts
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| （电力计量单位）瓦，瓦特( watt的名词复数 ) | |
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infiltrate
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| vt./vi.渗入，透过；浸润 | |
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interrogate
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| vt.讯问，审问，盘问 | |
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exhaled
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| v.呼出，发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气 | |
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lethal
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| adj.致死的；毁灭性的 | |
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blueprints
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| n.蓝图，设计图( blueprint的名词复数 ) | |
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hitch
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| v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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canvass
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| v.招徕顾客，兜售；游说；详细检查，讨论 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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locker
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| n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人 | |
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maneuvering
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| v.移动，用策略( maneuver的现在分词 )；操纵 | |
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crates
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| n. 板条箱, 篓子, 旧汽车 vt. 装进纸条箱 | |
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civilian
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| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
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streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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trainee
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| n.受训练者 | |
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deflect
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| v.(使)偏斜，(使)偏离，(使)转向 | |
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caliber
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| n.能力；水准 | |
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detectors
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| 探测器( detector的名词复数 ) | |
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tricky
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| adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的 | |
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ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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51
swapped
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| 交换（工作）( swap的过去式和过去分词 )； 用…替换，把…换成，掉换（过来） | |
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52
compensate
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| vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消 | |
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53
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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54
velocity
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| n.速度，速率 | |
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55
indicator
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| n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器 | |
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56
beacon
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| n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔 | |
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kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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wryly
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| adv. 挖苦地，嘲弄地 | |
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