Chapter 34

0558 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar) /UNSCPillar of Autumn , Epsilon Eridani SystemThe mission had just encountered another snag.

It never entered the Master Chief’s mind that he would fail to achieve his objectives. He had to succeed.

Failure meant death for not only himself, but for all the Spartans² . . . every human.

He stood at the view screen in the cargo³ bay and reread the priority Alpha transmission Captain Keyeshad sent down:

Alpha priority channel: To Fleet Admiralty from REACH Space Dock Quartermaster AI8575(a.

k.a. Doppler) //triple-encryption time-stamped public key: red rover red rover//start file/IMMEDIATE⁴ ACTION REQUIREDItem:Covenant⁵ data invasion packets detected penetrating⁶ firewall of REACH DOC NET.

Counterintrusion software enacted⁷. Resolution: 99.9 percent certainty of neutralization⁸.

Item:Initialization of triple-screening protocol⁹ discovered the corvetteCircumference /Bay Gamma-9/isolated from REACH DOC NET.

Item:Covenant ships detected on inbound Slipstream vector intersecting Bay Gamma-9.

Conclusion:Unsecured navigation data on theCircumference detected by Covenant forces.

Conclusion: VIOLATION¹⁰ OF THE COLE PROTOCOL.

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED.

/end file/He replayed the distress¹¹ call from Reach’s groundside FLEETCOM HQ.

“ . . . They’ve breached¹² the perimeter¹³. Fall back! Fall back! If anyone can hear this: the Covenant isgroundside. Massing near the armory¹⁴ . . . they’re—”

The Master Chief copied these files and sent them over his squad¹⁵’s COM channel. They had a right toknow everything, too.

There was only one reason the Covenant would launch a ground invasion: to take out the planetarydefense generators¹⁶. If they succeeded, Reach would fall.

And there was only one reason why the Covenant wanted the shipCircumference —to plunder¹⁷ its NAVdatabase—and find every human world, including Earth.

Captain Keyes appeared on the view screen. He held his pipe in one hand, squeezing it so tight hisknuckles were white. “Master Chief, I believe the Covenant will use a pinpoint¹⁸ Slipspace jump to aposition just off the space dock. They may try to get their troops on the station before the Super MACguns can take out their ships. This will be a difficult mission, Chief. I’m . . . open to suggestions.”

“We can take care of it,” the Master Chief replied.

Captain Keyes’ eyes widened and he leaned forward in his command chair. “How exactly, MasterChief?”

“With all due respect, sir, Spartans are trained to handle difficult missions. I’ll split my squad. Three willboard the space dock and make sure that NAV data does not fall into the Covenant’s hands. Theremainder of the Spartans will go groundside and repel¹⁹ the invasion forces.”

Captain Keyes considered this. “No, Master Chief, it’s too risky²⁰. We’ve got to make sure the Covenantdoesn’t get that NAV data. We’ll use a nuclear mine, set it close to the docking ring, and detonate it.”

“Sir, the EMP will burn out the superconductive coils of the orbital guns. And if you use thePillar ofAutumn ’s conventional weapons, the NAV database may still survive. If the Covenant search thewreckage—they may obtain the data.”

“True,” Keyes said, and tapped his pipe thoughtfully on his chin. “Very well, Master Chief. We’ll gowith your suggestion. I’ll plot a course over the docking station. Ready your Spartans and prep twodropships. We’ll launch you—” he consulted with Cortana “—in five minutes.”

“Aye, Captain. We’ll be ready.”

“Good luck,” Captain Keyes said, and snapped off the view screen.

Luck. The Master Chief always had been lucky. He’d need luck more than ever this time.

He turned to face the Spartans . . . his Spartans. They stood at attention.

Kelly stepped forward. “Master Chief sir, permission to lead the space op, sir.”

“Denied,” he said. “I’ll be leading that one.”

He appreciated her gesture. The space operation would be ten times more dangerous than the ground op.

The Covenant would outnumber them ten to one—or more—but the Spartans were used to taking thefight against numerically superior enemies. They had always won on the ground.

The extraction of theCircumference database, however, would be in vacuum and zero gravity—and theymight have to fight their way past a Covenant warship²¹ to reach the objective. Not exactly idealconditions.

“Linda and James,” he said. “You’re with me. Fred, you’re Red Team Leader. You’ll have tacticalcommand of the ground operation.”

“Sir!” Fred shouted. “Yes, sir.”

“Now make ready,” he said. “We don’t have much time left.”

The Master Chief regretted his unfortunate choice of words.

The Spartans stood a moment. Kelly called out, “Attention!” They snapped to and gave the Master Chiefa crisp salute²².

He stood straighter and returned their salute. He was intensely proud of them all.

The Spartans scattered²³ and gathered their gear, racing²⁴ for the dropship bay.

The Master Chief watched them go.

This was the mission the Spartans had been tempered for in mission after mission. It would be theirfinest moment . . . but he knew that it might also be their last moment.

Chief Mendez had said that a leader would be required to spend the lives of those under his command.

The Master Chief knew he would lose comrades today—but would their deaths serve a necessarypurpose . . . or would they be wasted?

Either way, they were ready.

John tapped the thrusters and rotated the Pelican²⁵ dropship 180 degrees. He pushed the engines to fullpower to brake their forward momentum²⁶. ThePillar of Autumn had dropped them while she had beencruising at one-third full speed.

They’d need every millimeter of the ten thousand kilometers between them and the docking station toslow down.

The Master Chief had taken the Spartan¹’s modified Pelican, rigged with explosives. The station wouldbe locked down—every airlock sealed. They’d have to blast their way in.

He glanced aft. Linda checked one of the three sniper rifle variants²⁷ she had brought. James inspected histhruster pack.

He had picked Linda because no other single Spartan was as efficient at long-range combat. And that’swhat the Master Chief wanted:long -range combat. If it came to hand-to-hand combat in zero gee²⁸ withhordes of Covenant troopers . . . even his luck wouldn’t hold out too long.

He had picked James because James had never quit. Even when his hand had been burned off, he hadshrugged off the shock—at least for a while—and helped them dispatch the Covenant behemoths onSigma Octanus IV. The Master Chief would need that kind of determination on this mission.

He took a long look out the front of the Pelican. Their sister dropship initiated²⁹ a burn and hurtled towardReach.

Kelly, Fred, Joshua . . . all of them. Part of him longed to join them in the ground action.

The radar³⁰ panel blinked a proximity³¹ warning; the Pelican was one thousand kilometers from the dockingring.

The Master Chief tapped the thrusters to align³² the dropship. He squelched³³ the proximity alert.

The alert immediately re-sounded. Strange. He reached for the squelch³⁴ again—then stopped as he sawthe space around the Pelican change. Motes³⁵ of green light appeared, pinpoints³⁶ at first, which swelled³⁷ likebruises on velvet³⁸ black space. The green smears³⁹ lengthened⁴⁰, compressed, and distorted the stars.

—a Slipstream entry point.

The Master Chief cut the Pelican’s engines, slowing them for impact.

A Covenant frigate⁴¹ materialized a kilometer from the dropship’s nose. Its prow⁴² filled their view screen.

1 spartan   

adj.简朴的，刻苦的；n.斯巴达；斯巴达式的人

参考例句：

• Their spartan lifestyle prohibits a fridge or a phone.他们不使用冰箱和电话，过着简朴的生活。
• The rooms were spartan and undecorated.房间没有装饰，极为简陋。

2 spartans   

n.斯巴达（spartan的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The ancient Spartans used to expose babies that they did not want. 古斯巴达人常遗弃他们不要的婴儿。
• But one by one the Spartans fell. 可是斯巴达人一个一个地倒下了。

3 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

4 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

5 covenant   

n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约

参考例句：

• They refused to covenant with my father for the property.他们不愿与我父亲订立财产契约。
• The money was given to us by deed of covenant.这笔钱是根据契约书付给我们的。

6 penetrating   

adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的

参考例句：

• He had an extraordinarily penetrating gaze. 他的目光有股异乎寻常的洞察力。
• He examined the man with a penetrating gaze. 他以锐利的目光仔细观察了那个人。

7 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

8 neutralization   

n.中立化，中立状态，中和

参考例句：

• Neutralization is the interaction of a base and an acid. 中和作用是碱和酸的相互作用。 来自辞典例句
• The neutralization equivalent of the polymer is 750(theoretical-681). 聚和物的中和当量为750（理论上为681）。 来自辞典例句

9 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

10 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

11 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

12 breached   

攻破( breach的现在分词 )； 破坏，违反

参考例句：

• These commitments have already been breached. 这些承诺已遭背弃。
• Our tanks have breached the enemy defences. 我方坦克车突破了敌人的防线。

13 perimeter   

n.周边，周长，周界

参考例句：

• The river marks the eastern perimeter of our land.这条河标示我们的土地东面的边界。
• Drinks in hands,they wandered around the perimeter of the ball field.他们手里拿着饮料在球场周围漫不经心地遛跶。

14 armory   

n.纹章，兵工厂，军械库

参考例句：

• Nuclear weapons will play a less prominent part in NATO's armory in the future.核武器将来在北约的军械中会起较次要的作用。
• Every March the Armory Show sets up shop in New York.每年三月，军械博览会都会在纽约设置展场。

15 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

16 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 plunder   

vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠

参考例句：

• The thieves hid their plunder in the cave.贼把赃物藏在山洞里。
• Trade should not serve as a means of economic plunder.贸易不应当成为经济掠夺的手段。

18 pinpoint   

vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置

参考例句：

• It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出，现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
• I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。

19 repel   

v.击退，抵制，拒绝，排斥

参考例句：

• A country must have the will to repel any invader.一个国家得有决心击退任何入侵者。
• Particles with similar electric charges repel each other.电荷同性的分子互相排斥。

20 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

21 warship   

n.军舰，战舰

参考例句：

• He is serving on a warship in the Pacific.他在太平洋海域的一艘军舰上服役。
• The warship was making towards the pier.军舰正驶向码头。

22 salute   

vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮

参考例句：

• Merchant ships salute each other by dipping the flag.商船互相点旗致敬。
• The Japanese women salute the people with formal bows in welcome.这些日本妇女以正式的鞠躬向人们施礼以示欢迎。

23 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

24 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

25 pelican   

n.鹈鹕，伽蓝鸟

参考例句：

• The pelican has a very useful beak.鹈鹕有一张非常有用的嘴。
• This pelican is expected to fully recover.这只鹈鹕不久就能痊愈。

26 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

27 variants   

n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体

参考例句：

• Those variants will be preserved in the'struggle for existence". 这些变异将在“生存竞争”中被保留下来。 来自辞典例句
• Like organisms, viruses have variants, generally called strains. 与其他生物一样，病毒也有变种，一般称之为株系。 来自辞典例句

28 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！

29 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

30 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

31 proximity   

n.接近，邻近

参考例句：

• Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
• Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。

32 align   

vt.使成一线，结盟，调节；vi.成一线，结盟

参考例句：

• Align the ruler and the middle of the paper.使尺子与纸张的中部成一条直线。
• There are signs that the prime minister is aligning himself with the liberals.有迹象表明首相正在与自由党人结盟。

33 squelched   

v.发吧唧声，发扑哧声( squelch的过去式和过去分词 )；制止；压制；遏制

参考例句：

• We squelched over the soggy ground. 我们咕唧咕唧地走过泥泞的土地。
• The mud squelched as I walked through it. 我扑哧扑哧地穿过泥泞。

34 squelch   

v.压制，镇压；发吧唧声

参考例句：

• The President wants to squelch any perception that the meeting is an attempt to negotiate.总统想要消除任何视本次会议为谈判尝试的看法。
• You cannot squelch wanting.你不能压制要求。

35 motes   

n.尘埃( mote的名词复数 )；斑点

参考例句：

• In those warm beams the motes kept dancing up and down. 只见温暖的光芒里面，微细的灰尘在上下飞扬。 来自辞典例句
• So I decided to take lots of grammar motes in every class. 因此我决定每堂课多做些语法笔记。 来自互联网

36 pinpoints   

准确地找出或描述( pinpoint的第三人称单数 )； 为…准确定位

参考例句：

• The bombs hit the pinpoints at which they were aimed. 炸弹精确地击中了目标。
• There's really no point in arguing about pinpoints. 为芝麻绿豆般的小事争论实在毫无意义。

37 swelled   

增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情）

参考例句：

• The infection swelled his hand. 由于感染，他的手肿了起来。
• After the heavy rain the river swelled. 大雨过后，河水猛涨。

38 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

39 smears   

污迹( smear的名词复数 )； 污斑； （显微镜的）涂片； 诽谤

参考例句：

• His evidence was a blend of smears, half truths and downright lies. 他的证词里掺杂着诽谤、部份的事实和彻头彻尾的谎言。
• Anything written with a soft pencil smears easily. 用软铅笔写成的东西容易污成一片。

40 lengthened   

（时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The afternoon shadows lengthened. 下午影子渐渐变长了。
• He wanted to have his coat lengthened a bit. 他要把上衣放长一些。

41 frigate   

n.护航舰，大型驱逐舰

参考例句：

• An enemy frigate bore down on the sloop.一艘敌驱逐舰向这只护航舰逼过来。
• I declare we could fight frigate.我敢说我们简直可以和一艘战舰交战。

42 prow   

n.(飞机)机头，船头

参考例句：

• The prow of the motor-boat cut through the water like a knife.汽艇的船头像一把刀子劈开水面向前行驶。
• He stands on the prow looking at the seadj.他站在船首看着大海。