Fred looked over the battlefield from the top of the southern bunker, his temporary command post. The structure had been hastily erected3, and some of the fast-dryinginstacrete hadn't fully4 hardened.
The bunker was not the best defensive5 position, but it gave him a clear view of the area as his team worked to strengthen the perimeter6 of the generator complex. Spartans8 strung razor wire, buried Antilon mine packs, and swept the area on patrols. A six-man fireteam searched the battleground for weapons and ammunition9.
Satisfied that the situation was as stable as possible, he sat and began to remove portions of his armor. Under normal circum.stances a team of techs would assist in such work, butover time the Spartans had all learned how to make rudimentary field re.pairs. He located a broken pressure seal and quickly replaced it with an undamaged one he'drecovered from SPARTAN7-059's armor.
Fred scowled11. He hated the necessity of stripping gear from Malcolm's suit. But it woulddishonor his fallen comrade not to use his gift of the spare part.
He banished12 thoughts of the drop and finished installing the seal. Self-recrimination was a luxury he could ill afford, and the Red Team Spartans didn't have a monopoly on hardtimes.
Charlie Company's surviving Marines had held off the Cove10.nant assault with batteries ofchainguns, Warthogs, and a pair of20 HALO: FIRST STRIKEScorpion tanks for almost an hour. Grunts15 had charged across the minefield and cleared apath for the Jackals and Elites16.
Lieutenant17 Buckman, the Marines' CO, had been ordered to send the bulk of his men into the forest in an attempt to flank the enemy. He had called in air support, too.
He got it.
Reach HighCom must have realized the generators18 were in danger of being overrun, so someone panicked and sent in bombers20 to hit the forest in a half-klick radius21. That wipedout the Covenant22 assault wave. It also killed the Lieutenant and his men.
What a waste.
Fred replaced the last of his armor components23 and powered up. His status lights pulseda cool blue. Satisfied, he stood and activated24 the COM.
"Red-Twelve, give me a sit-rep."Will's voice crackled over the channel. "Perimeter estab.lished, Chief. No enemycontacts.""Good," Fred replied. "Mission status?""Ten chainguns recovered and now provide blanketing fields of fire around the generatorcomplex," Will said. "We've got three Banshee fliers working. We've also recovered thirtyof those arm-mounted Jackal shield generators, plus a few hundred assault rifles, plasmapistols, and grenades.""Ammo? We need it.""Affirmative, sir," Will said. "Enough to last for an hour of continuous fire." There was ashort pause, then he added: "HQ must have sent reinforcements at some point, becausewe've re.covered a crate26 marked HIGHCOM ARMORY27 OMEGA.""What's in it?""Six Anaconda surface-to-air missiles." Will's voice barely concealed28 his glee. "And a pairof Fury tac-nukes."Fred gave a low whistle. The Fury tac-nuke was the closest thing the UNSC had in itsarsenal to a nuclear grenade. It was the size and shape of an overinflated football. Itdelivered slightly less than a megaton yield, and was extremely clean. Unfortu.nately, itwas also completely useless to them in this situation.
"Secure that ordnance29 ASAP. We can't use them. The EMP would fry the generators."ERIC NYLUND 21"Roger that," Will said with a disappointed sigh.
"Red-Three?" Fred asked. "Report."There was a moment's hesitation30. Joshua whispered: "Not good here, Red-One. I'm postedon the ridge31 between our valley and the next. The Covenant has a massive LZ set up.There's an enemy ship on station and I estimate battalion-strength enemy troops on theround. Grunts, Jackals, equipment, and support armor are deploying32. Looks like they'regggetting ready for round two, sir."Fred felt the pit of his stomach grow cold. "Give me an uplink.""Roger."A tiny picture a peared in Fre'ds heads-up display, and he saw what Joshua had sightedthrough his snippperscope: A Covenant cruiser hovered33 thirty meters off the ground. Theship bristled34 with energy weapons and plasma25 artillery35. His Spartans couldn't get withinweapons range of that thing without being roasted.
A gravity lift connected the ship to the surface of Reach, and troops oured out— thousands of them: legions of Grunts, three full squadrons of Elites pppiloting Banshees,plus at least a dozen Wraith36 tanks.
It didn't make much sense, though. Why didn't the cruiser get closer and open fire? Or didthe Covenant think there might be another air strike? The Covenant never hesitatedduring an as.sault ... but the fact that he was still alive meant that the enemy's rules ofengagement had somehow changed.
Fred wasn't sure why the Covenant were being so cautious, but he'd take the break. Itwould give him time to figure out how to stop them. If the Spartans were mobile, theymight be able to engage a force that size with hit-and-run tactics. Holding a fixed37 positionwas another story altogether.
"Updates every ten minutes," he told Joshua. His voice was suddenly tight and dry.
"Roger that.""Red-Two? Any progress on that SATCOM uplink?""Negative, sir," Kelly muttered, tension thickening her voice. She had been tasked withpatching Charlie Company's bullet-ridden communications pack. "There are battlereports jamming the entire spectrum38, but from what I can make out the fight up.stairsisn't going well. They need this generator up—no matter what it's going to cost us."22HALO: FIRST STRIKE"Understood," Fred said. "Keep me—""Wait. Incoming transmission to Charlie Company from Reach HighCom."HighCom? Fred thought headquarters on Reach had been overrun. "Verification codes?""They check out," Kelly replied.
"Patch it through.""Charlie Company? Jake? What the hell is the holdup there? Why haven39 'tyou gotten mymen out yet?""This is Senior Petty Officer SPARTAN-104, Red Team leader," Fred replied, "now incharge of Charlie Company. Identify yourself.""Put Lieutenant Chapman on, Spartan," an irritated voice snapped.
"That's not possible, sir," Fred told him, instinctively40 realizing that he spoke41 to an officerand adding the honorific. "Except for four wounded Marines, Charlie Company is gone."There was a long static-filled pause. "Spartan, listen to me very carefully. This is ViceAdmiral Danforth Whitcomb, Deputy Chief of Naval42 Operations. Do you know who lam,son?""Yes, sir," Fred said, wincing43 as the Admiral identified him.self. If the Covenant wereeavesdropping on this transmission, the senior officer had just made himself a gianttarget.
"My staff and I are pinned down in a gully southeast of where HighCom used to be," Whitcomb continued. "Get your team over here and extract us, on the double.""Negative, sir, I cannot do that. I have direct orders to protect the generator complexpowering the orbital guns.""I'm countermanding44 those orders," the Admiral barked. "As of two hours ago, I havetactical command of the defense1 of Reach. Now, I don't care if you 're a Spartan or JesusChrist walking down the damned Big Horn River—/ am giving you a direct order.Acknowledge, Spartan."If Admiral Whitcomb was now in char13 e of the defense, then a lot of the senior brass45 hadbeen put out of commission when HQ gggot hit.
Fred saw a tiny amber46 light flashing on his heads-up display. His biomonitor indicated anelevation in his blood pressure and heart rate. He noticed his hands shook, almostimperceptibly.
ERIC NYLUND 23He controlled the shaking and keyed the COM. "Acknowl.edged, sir. Is air supportavailable?""Negative. Covenant craft took out our fighter and bomber19 cover in the first wave.""Very well, sir. We'll get you out.""Step on it, Chief." The COM snapped off.
Fred wondered if Admiral Whitcomb was responsible for the hundreds of dead Marines who'd been trying to guard the gener.ators. No doubt he was an excellent ship driver. . .but Fleet offi.cers running ground ops? No wonder the situation was FUBAR.
Had he pressured a young and inexperienced lieutenant to flank a superior enemy? Hadhe sent in air support with orders to saturate-bomb the area?
Fred didn't trust the Admiral's judgment47, but he couldn't ig.nore a direct order from him,either.
He ran his team roster48 up onto his heads-up display: twenty-two Spartans, six woundedso badly they could barely walk, and four battle-fatigued Marines who'd been throughhell once al.ready. They had to repel49 a massive Covenant force. They had to extractAdmiral Whitcomb, too. And as usual, their survival was at best a tertiary consideration.
He had weapons to defend the installation: grenades, chain-guns, and missiles—Fred paused. Perhaps this was the wrong way to look at the tactical situation. He was thinking about defending the installa.tion when he should have been thinking aboutwhat Spartans were best at—offense.
He keyed the SQUADCOM. "Everyone catch that last transmission?"Acknowledgment lights winked50 on.
"Good. Here's the plan: We split into four teams.
"Team Delta—" He highlighted the wounded Spartans and the four Marines on the roster."—fall back to this location." He uploaded a tactical map of the area and set a NAV marker in a ravine sixteen kilometers north. "Take two Warthogs, but leave them and stealth it ifyou encounter any resistance. Your mission is to secure the area. This will be the squad'sfallback position. Keep the back door open for us."They immediately acknowledged. The Spartans knew that24 HALO: FIRST STRIKEravine like the backs of their hands. It wasn't marked on any map, but it was where they'dtrained for months with Dr. Halsey. Beneath the mountain were caverns51 that the Office ofNaval In.telligence had converted into a top-secret facility. It was fortified52 and hardenedagainst radiation, and could probably withstand anything up to and including a directnuclear strike. A perfect hole to hide in if everything went sour.
"Team Gamma." Fred selected Red-Twenty-one, Red-Twenty-two, and Red-Twenty-three from the roster. "You'll extract the Admiral and his staff and bring them back to thegenerators. We'll need the extra crew.""Affirmative," Red-Twenty-one replied.
Technically53 Fred was following Whitcomb's order to extract him from his currentposition. What the Admiral didn't realize, though, was that he would have probably beensafer staying put.
"Team Beta—" Fred selected Red-Twenty through Red-Four. "—you're on generatordefense.""Understood, Chief.""Team Alpha—" He selected Kelly, Joshua, and himself.
"Awaiting orders, sir," Joshua said.
"We're going to that valley to kill anything there that isn't human."Fred and Kelly faced the three Banshee fliers that had been dragged into the makeshiftcompound. Fred peered inside the cockpit of the nearest craft and tabbed the activationknob. The Banshee rose a meter off the ground, its antigrav pod glowed a faint electricblue, and it started to drift forward. He snapped it off, and the Banshee settled to theground. He quickly tested the other two, and they also rose off the ground.
"Good. All working."Kelly crossed her arms. "We're going for a ride?"A Warthog pulled up and skidded54 to a halt in front of them, Joshua at the wheel. The rearheld half a dozen Jackhammer mis.siles and a trio of launchers. A crate sat in thepassenger's seat, one loaded with the dark, emerald-green duct tape that every sol.dierin the UNSC ubiquitously referred to as "EB Green.""Mission accomplished55, sir," Joshua said as he climbed from the Warthog.
ERIC NYLUND 25Fred grabbed a launcher, a pair of rockets, and a roll of tape from the 'Hog14. "We'll beneeding these when we hit the Cove.nant on the other side of the ridge," he explained.
"Each of you secure a launcher and some ammo in a Banshee."Joshua and Kelly stopped what they were doing and turned to face him.
"Permission to speak, sir," Kelly asked.
"Granted.""I'm all for a good fight, Fred, but those odds56 are a little lop.sided even for us... like tenthousand to one.""We can handle a hundred to one",Joshua chimed in, "maybe even five hundred to one with a little planning and support, but against these odds, a frontal assault seems—""It's not going to be a frontal assault," Fred said. He wedged the launcher into thecramped Banshee cockpit. "Tape."Kelly ripped off a length of tape and handed it over.
Fred smoothed the adhesive57 strip and secured the launcher in place. "We'll play this one as quiet as we can," he said.
She considered Fred's plan for a moment and then asked, "So, assuming we fool them into letting us into their lines ... then what?""As much as I'd like to, we can't use the tac-nukes," Joshua mused58, "not in the far valley.The intervening ridge isn't high enough to block the EMP. It'll burn out the orbital defense generator.""There's another way to use them," Fred told them. "We're go.ing to board the cruiser— right up its gravity lift—and detonate the nuke inside. The ship's shields will dampen theelectromag.netic pulse.""It'll also turn that ship into the biggest fragmentation grenade in history," Kellyremarked.
"And if anything goes wrong," Joshua said, "we end up in the middle often thousandpissed-off bad guys.""We're Spartans," Fred said. "What could possibly go wrong?"
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1
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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generator
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| n.发电机，发生器 | |
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ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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perimeter
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| n.周边，周长，周界 | |
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spartan
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| adj.简朴的，刻苦的；n.斯巴达；斯巴达式的人 | |
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spartans
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| n.斯巴达（spartan的复数形式） | |
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ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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scowled
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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char
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| v.烧焦；使...燃烧成焦炭 | |
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hog
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| n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占 | |
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grunts
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的第三人称单数 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说； 石鲈 | |
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elites
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| 精华( elite的名词复数 )； 精锐； 上层集团； （统称）掌权人物 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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generators
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| n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司 | |
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bomber
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| n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者 | |
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bombers
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| n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟 | |
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21
radius
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| n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限 | |
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covenant
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| n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约 | |
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components
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| （机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分 | |
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activated
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| adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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plasma
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| n.血浆，细胞质，乳清 | |
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crate
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| vt.(up)把…装入箱中；n.板条箱，装货箱 | |
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armory
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| n.纹章，兵工厂，军械库 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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ordnance
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| n.大炮，军械 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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deploying
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| （尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用 | |
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hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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bristled
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| adj. 直立的，多刺毛的 动词bristle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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wraith
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| n.幽灵；骨瘦如柴的人 | |
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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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spectrum
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| n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列 | |
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haven
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| n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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41
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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42
naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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43
wincing
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| 赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的现在分词 ) | |
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44
countermanding
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| v.取消（命令），撤回( countermand的现在分词 ) | |
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45
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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46
amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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47
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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48
roster
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| n.值勤表，花名册 | |
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49
repel
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| v.击退，抵制，拒绝，排斥 | |
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50
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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51
caverns
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| 大山洞，大洞穴( cavern的名词复数 ) | |
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52
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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53
technically
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| adv.专门地，技术上地 | |
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54
skidded
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| v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的过去式和过去分词 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区 | |
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55
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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56
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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57
adhesive
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| n.粘合剂；adj.可粘着的，粘性的 | |
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mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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