Plasma4 bolts impacted on the Longsword's hull5 and splashed across the windshield. The packets of glowing energy siz.zled across the cockpit and etched cloudy, molten trailsinto the glass.
A legion of Grunts7 hunkered behind docked Seraph9 fighters and fuel pods. Some darted10 inand out of cover and fired ghostly green blobs of plasma at the Longsword.
"I got 'em," Polaski said and flipped11 a switch.
The Longsword's landing gear deployed12 and raised the craft a meter off the floor. "Guns clear," Polaski announced. " 'Bye, boys."She brought up a targeting reticle and swept it around the bay. A hail of 120mm rounds tore through the Grunts' cover. Fuel pods and unshielded fighters detonated and sentmetal frag.ments and alien soldiers hurtling to the deck. The air exploded into roilingflame, which billowed toward the ceiling and then subsided13. Pools of burning fuel and thecharred bodies of Grunts and Covenant Engineers littered the launch bay.
"Fire suppression system activating," Cortana said.
Jets of gray mist blew down from above. The fires intensified14 for a moment, then gutteredand went out.
"Is there atmosphere in the bay?" the Chief asked.
"Scanning," Cortana replied. "Traces of ash, some contami.nation from the melted shiphulls, and a lot of smoke, but the air in the bay is breathable, Chief."ERIC NYLUND 59"Good." He turned to the others. "We're going in. I'll lead. Locklear, you're up with me.Sergeant15, you've got the rear.""You'll need to take me, too," Cortana said. "I've pulled a schematic of this ship tonavigate, but the engineering controls have been manually locked down. I'll need directaccess to this ship's command data systems."The Chief hesitated. His armor allowed an AI like Cortana to tag along stored in a specialcrystal layer. On Halo, Cortana had been an invaluable16 tactical asset.
Still, she also used part of his armor's neural17 interface18 for pro19.cessing purposes, literallyharnessing parts of the Chief's brain. And after coming out of Halo's computer system,she'd been act.ing... twitchy.
He put his discomfort20 aside. If Cortana turned into a liability, he'd pull the plug.
"Stand by," he said. He punched a key on the computer termi.nal and dumped Cortana toa data chip. A moment later the ter.minal pulsed green.
He removed the chip and slotted it in the back of his helmet. There was a moment ofvertigo, and then the familiar mercury-and-ice sensation flooded his skull21 as Cortana interfaced22.
"Still plenty of room in here, I see," she said.
He ignored her customary quip and nodded at Johnson and Locklear. "Let's go."Sergeant Johnson hit the door release, and the side hatch slid open. Locklear shoulderedhis rifle and poured fire through the opening. A pair of Grunts who had crouched24 near theLongsword to protect themselves from the fire flew backward onto the deck.Phosphorescent blood pooled beneath their prone25 forms.
The Chief dived through the open hatch and rolled to his feet; his motion tracker pickedup three targets to his side. He whirled about and saw a trio of Covenant Engineers. He removed his fin26.ger from the weapon's trigger. Engineers were no threat.
The odd, meter-high creatures hovered27 above the deck, using bladders of some lighterthan-air gas produced by their bodies. Their tentacles28 and feelers probed a tangle29 of fuellines, quickly repairing the pipes and pumps.
"Funny that there's no welcoming committee yet," Cortana whispered. "I looked over thisship's personnel roster30: three60HALO: FIRST STRIKEthousand Covenant, mostly Engineers. There's a light company of Grunts, and only a hundred Elites32.""Only a hundred?" the Chief muttered.
He waved his team forward toward a heavy door at the back of the launch bay. The airwas full of smoke and fire-suppressing mist, which reduced visibility to a dozen meters.
The rattle33 of assault rifle fire echoed through the bay. The Chief spun34 to his right and brought his own rifle to bear.
Locklear stood over the twitching35 corpses36 of the Engineers. He fired another burst into the fallen aliens.
"Don't waste your ammunition37, Corporal," the Sergeant said. "They may be ugly, butthey're harmless.""They're harmless now, Sarge," Locklear replied. He wiped a spatter of alien blood from his cheek and smirked39.
The Chief tended to agree with Locklear's threat analysis of the Covenant: When in doubt,kill. Still, he found the young Ma.rine's actions unnecessary... and a little sloppy40.
The architecture of the Covenant fighter bay was similar to the interior of the other Covenant ship the Chief had recently been inside, the Truth and Reconciliation41. Low indirect lights illumi.nated the dark purple walls. The alien metal appeared to besten.ciled with odd, faintly luminescent geometric patterns that overlapped42 each other.The ceiling was vaulted43 and unneces.sarily high, maybe ten meters. In contrast to a human ship, it was a waste of space.
The Chief spotted44 a large door at the back of the bay.
The door was a distorted hexagonal shape and large enough that the entire team couldenter at the same time—not that he'd ever be foolish enough to take up such a formation in hostile ter.ritory. The door had four sections that, when keyed to open, would silentlyslide away from the center.
"That will take us to the main corridor," Cortana said. "And from there, to the bridge."The Chief waved Locklear to the right side of the door, Sergeant Johnson to the left.
"Lieutenant45 Haverson," he called out, "you're our rear guard. Polaski, hit the door controls. Hand signals from now on."Haverson tossed an ironic47 salute48 to the Chief but tightened49 his grip on his weapon and scanned the bay.
ERIC NYLUND 61Polaski moved forward and crouched by the panel in the mid50.dle of the door. She turnedher cap around and leaned closer, then looked back to the Chief and gave him a thumbs-up.
He raised his rifle and nodded, giving her the go-ahead to breach51 the door.
She reached for the controls. Before she touched them, though, the door slid apart.
Standing52 on the opposite side were five Elites: Two stood shielded by either edge of thedoor; a third stood centered in the corridor, plasma rifle leveled at the Chief; behind it,the fourth Elite31 covered the rear of their formation; and one last Elite crouched in front ofthe door control panel—nose to nose with Polaski.
The Chief fired two bursts directly over Polaski's head. His first shots struck the Elite inthe middle of the corridor. His sec.ond burst hit the Elite standing rear guard. The alien warriors53 hadn't activated54 their shields, and 7.62mm rounds punctured55 their armor. The pair of Elites dropped to the deck.
Their comrades on either side of the door howled and at.tacked56. The whine57 of plasma rifle fire echoed through the bay as blue-white energy bolts crashed into the Chief's own shields.
His shield dropped away, and the insistent58 drone of a warning indicator59 pulsed in hishelmet. His vision clouded from the flare60 of energy weapon discharges, and he struggledto draw a bead61 on the Elite in front of Polaski. It was no good—he had no clear shot.
The Elite drew a plasma pistol. Polaski drew her own sidearm.
She was faster—or luckier. Her pistol cleared its holster; she snapped it up and fired. The pistol boomed as a shot took the Elite right in the center of its elongated62 helmet.
The Elite's own shot went wide and seared into the deck be.hind8 Polaski.
Polaski emptied her clip into the alien's face. A pair of rounds rocked the alien back. Itsshields faded, and the remain.ing rounds tore through armor and bone.
It fell on its back, twitched63 twice, and died.
Johnson and Locklear unleashed64 a hellish crossfire65 into the corridor and made short workof the remaining Elites as Polaski hugged the deckplates.
62HALO: FIRST STRIKE"Now that's what I'm talkin' about," Johnson crowed. "An honest-to-God turkey shoot."Ten meters down the passage a dozen more Elites rounded a corner.
"Uh-oh," Locklear muttered"Sergeant," the Chief barked. ""Door control!John moved to Polaski's position in twoquick strides, grabbed her by her collar, and dragged her out of the line of fire. Plasmabolts singed67 the air where she'd been.
He dropped her, primed a grenade, and tossed it toward the rushing Elites.
The Sergeant fired his assault rife68 at the door controls; they exploded in a shower ofsparks, and the doors slammed shut.
A dull thump69 echoed behind the thick metal, then an eerie70 si.lence descended71 on the bay.Polaski struggled to her feet and fed a fresh clip into her pistol. Her hands shook.
"Cortana," the Chief said. "We need an alternate route to the bridge."A blue arrow flashed on his heads-up display. The Chief turned and spotted a hatch to hisright. He pointed72 to the hatch and signaled his team to move, then ran to the hatch andtouched the control panel.
The small door slid open to reveal a narrow corridor beyond, snaking into the darkness.
He didn't like it. The corridor was too dark and too narrow—a perfect place for anambush. He briefly73 considered heading back to the primary bay door, but abandoned thatidea. Smoke and sparks poured from the door seams as the Covenant forces on the otherside tried to burn their way through.
The Chief clicked on his low-light vision filters, and the dark.ness washed away into agrainy flood of fluorescent74 green. No contacts.
He paused to let his shields recharge, then dropped into a low crouch23. He brought his rifleto bear and crept into die corridor.
The interior of the passage narrowed, and its smooth purple surface darkened. The Chiefhad to turn sideways to pass through.
"This looks like a service corridor for their Engineers," Cor.tana said. "Their Elitewarriors will have a tough time follow.ing us."ERIC NYLUND 63The Chief grunted76 an acknowledgment as he eased his way through. There was a scrapingsound and a flash of sparks as his energy shield brushed the wall. It was too ti ht a fit. Hepowered down the shields, which left him just enough room to squeeze througggh.
Locklear followed behind him, then Polaski, the Sergeant, and finally Haverson.
The Chief pointed at Haverson, then at the door. The Lieu.tenant46 frowned, then nodded.Haverson closed the hatch and ripped out the circuitry for the control mechanism78.
There had been dozens of Engineers in the launch bay— and there were enough on theship to merit their own access tun.nel. The Chief hadn't seen anything like this on theTruth and Reconciliation.
In fact, he hadn't seen a single Engineer on that ship. What made this ship different? Itwas armed like a ship of war... yet had the support staff of a refit vessel79.
"Stop here," Cortana said.
The Chief halted and killed his external speakers so he could speak freely. "Problem?""No. A lucky break, maybe. Look to your left and down twenty centimeters."The Chief squinted80 and noticed that a portion of the wall ex.truded into a circularopening no larger than the tip of his thumb. "That's a data port... or what passes for onewith the Covenant Engineers. I'm picking up handshake signals in shortwave and infraredfrom it. Remove me and slot me in.""Are you sure?""I can't do much good in there with you. Once I'm directly in contact with the ship'sbattlenet, however, I can infiltrate81 and take over their systems. You'll still need to get tothe bridge and manually give me access to their engineering systems. In the meantime, Imay be able to control secondary systems and buy you some time.""If you're sure.""When have I not been sure?" she snapped.
The Chief could sense her impatience82 through the neural interface.
He removed Cortana's data chip from the socket83 in his helmet.
64 HALO: FIRST STRIKEThe Chief felt her leave his mind, felt the heat rush back into his head, pulsing with therhythm of his heart... and once again, he was alone in the armor.
He slotted Cortana's chip into the Covenant data port.
Locklear's face rippled84 with disgust, and he whispered, "You couldn't pay me to stick anypart of myself in that thing."The Chief made a slashing85 gesture across his throat, and the Marine86 fell silent.
"I'm in," Cortana said.
"How is it?" the Chief said.
There was a half-second pause"'". Its ... different,Cortana replied. "Proceed thirty meters down this passage and turn left."The Chief motioned the team forward.
"It's very different," Cortana murmured.
Cortana was built for software intrusion. She had been pro.grammed with every dirtytrick and code-breaking algorithm the Office of Naval87 Intelligence, Section Three had ever created, and a few more tricks she'd developed on her own. She was the ultimate thiefand electronic spy. She slipped into the Covenant system.
It was easy the first time she had entered their network as the Longsword hadapproached the flagship. She had set their weap.ons systems into a diagnostic mode. The Covenant had deter88.mined the problem and quickly reset89 the system, but it had given Polaski the precious seconds her sluggish90 human reflexes had needed to get inside thelaunch bay.
"How is it?" the Chief asked.
Now the element of surprise was gone, and the system's counterintrusion systems were running on high alert. Something else prowled the systems now. Delicate pings bouncedoff the edges of Cortana's presence; they probed, and withdrew.
It felt as if there were someone else running through their sys.tem. A Covenant AI? There had never been any reports of alien AIs. The possibility intrigued91 her.
"It's.. . different," she finally answered.
She scanned the ship's schematics, deck by deck, then flashed through the vessel's three thousand surveillance systems. She picked out the quickest route to the bridge from theircurrentERIC NYLUND 65position and stored it in a stolen tertiary system buffer92. She multitasked a portion ofherself and continued to analyze93 the ship's structure and subsystems.
"Proceed thirty meters down this passage and turn left."Cortana hijacked94 the external ship cameras and detected the six Covenant cruisers. They had stalled their pursuit of the Longsword and now hovered a hundred kilometers off theflag.ship's starboard side. The strange U-shaped Covenant dropships launched from thecruisers and swarmed95 toward the flagship. That was trouble.
Within the flagship she spotted a dozen hunt-and-kill Elite teams sweeping96 the corridors.
She scrambled97 the ship's tracking systems, generated electronic ghosts of the Chief andhis team along a path directed toward the nose of the ship, where UNSC command-andcontrolcenters were typically located. Maybe she could fool the Elites into a wild goose chase.
She uploaded the coordinates98 of those enemies into the Chief's HUD.
A tickle99 of feedback teased through the data stream.
Cortana locked onto the source of that feedback, listened, dis.cerned a nonrandom pattern to the signal, then cut off contact. She had no time to play hide and seek withwhatever else was in this system.
Cortana had to finally admit to herself that she didn't have the power to contend with apossible enemy artificial construct. She had absorbed a tremendous volume of data from Halo's systems: eons' worth of records on Halo's engineering and maintenance, thexenobiology of the Flood, and every scrap77 of information on the mysterious "Forerunners100" the Covenant revered101 so much. The information would take her a week ofnonstop processing to examine, collate102, codify103... let alone understand.
Even compressed, all the data filled her and cut into optical subsystems that she usuallyreserved for her processing. She had a nagging104 suspicion that the file compression hadbeen too hasty—and that the Halo data might be corrupted105.
In effect, the vast amount of information she had copied bloated her, made her slower andless effective.
She hadn't mentioned this to the Chief. She could barely ad.mit it to herself. Cortana was extremely proud of her intellect.
66 HALO: FIRST STRIKEBut to operate as if nothing were different would be even more foolish.
She sent a blocking countersignal along the connection where this "other" was trying tocontact her.
The portion of her consciousness examining the ship's struc.ture discovered that thebridge had another access point. Stupid. She should have seen it immediately, but thisother entrance had been filed under the schematics as an emergency system. It was a tinycorridor that connected to a set of escape pods. That route shared a vent106 with an engineering passage.
"Chief, there's another way to the bridge.""Affirmative. Wait one." There was a burst of gunfire on the COM, then silence. "Go ahead,Cortana.""Uploading the route now," s"he said. I do not believe you can fit through this newpassage in your armor. I suggest you split your team and proceed along both routes tomaximize your chances of egress107 onto the bridge.""Understood," the Chief said. "Polaski and Haverson with me. Johnson and Locklear, youtake the escape pod route."She continued to track both teams and the relative positions of the Covenant parties. Shereplicated additional ghost signals to confuse the enemy.
Cortana picked up increasing communications bandwidth be.tween the flagship and thecruisers. Reports of the invaders—a call for help—a warning to be relayed to the homeworld. There were references to the "holy one," and those messages had what sheconsidered amusing attempts at encryption to keep them se.cret. Curious, she had toinvestigate what the Covenant thought important enough to hide.
As she decrypted those messa es and others cross-referenced and filed in their COMarchives, she detected an energggy spike108 on the flagship's lateral109 sensors110. One cruiser off tostarboard moved farther away; it turned, its engines glowed, the black around it ri pledelectric blue. The Covenant ship sped forward, tore the night, and vanished into Slipppspace.
Cortana noted111 their departure vector for future reference... a possible clue at the locationof their home world.
It was puzzling that the Covenant would call for help. Their warriors were intenselyproud; they almost never ran from aERIC NYLUND67fight. They didn't ask for help... not for themselves. Then again, this ship, although armedfor war, didn't appear to be staffed for combat. It carried only a few hundred Elites and anarmy of Engineers.
As Cortana pondered this, she continued to generate a counter-signal to match to therobe sent by the other presence in the system. She hoped to cloak her activity as long aspppossible. The other's signal morphed into a series of Bessel functions, and shecompensated to match.
She automated113 this process, commandeering a portion of the Covenant's own NAVcomputer to do so, and then she herded114 the electronic ghosts of the Chief and the othersto confuse the pursuing Elite forces.
At the same time, she continued her study of the Covenant ship and its systems—it was aunique opportunity. The informa.tion on their advanced Slipspace drive, their weapons—it could leapfrog human technology decades forward.
"Cortana?" The Chief's voice broke her concentration. There were sounds of plasma boltsand automatic weapons fire. "We've got Elites in active camouflage115 in the passage. Weneed a way around this intersection116."She had not considered the Elites' light-bending technology. She was doing too much,spreading herself too thin. She halted her ongoing117 study of the Covenant technology andfound the Chief a way around the intersection.
She rebooted her human communications and protocol118 rou.tines and said, "Access panelto your ri ht, Chief. Down three meters, straight ahead five meters, turn to your left andthen up agggain."She heard an explosion. "Got it," the Chief said.
Cortana had to focus on protecting the Chief. She halted her other searches andscrutinized the ship's schematics. There had to be something she could use. A weapon. Away to stop then-enemies—there: the backup terminus for their atmosphericpre.processors. Unlike the other systems, this one was classified as low priority and hadminimal security layers.
She generated several hundred thousand Covenant codes in a microsecond and crackedthe system. She diverted the air vents119 along the corridors the Chief and his team occupiedto the pri68HALO: FIRST STRIKEmary air systems. She then tasked the processor pumps to ser.vice75 the rest of the shipand activated them—in reverse.
Warnings flashed throughout the Covenant system as the pressure suddenly dropped in87 percent of the ship's passages. She squelched120 them.
The other presence in the system tried to shut the pumps off. She blocked that signal andassigned a new code to the security systems: "WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU."She heard the other AI scream, an echo of an echo that rever.berated121 through herprocessors. She knew trie sound—familiar like a human voice, but terribly distorted.
She scanned through the ship's cameras and saw Grunts squeal122 and fall over, methane123 leaking from their breathers as the pres.sure dropped. Engineers turned blue, slowed,and died, floating in place with tentacles twitching, still searching for something to fix.The Elite hunt-and-destroy parties halted in the corridors and clutched their throats,mandibles snapping at air that was no longer there; they toppled and suffocated124.
An impulse flickered125 through her ethics126 subroutine and gen.erated an interruptcommand, designed to make her stop and re.think her decisions. But Cortana knew itwas either kill or be killed. She rerouted all signals from her ethics routine and shut itdown. She couldn't afford to be slowed down by such secondary considerations.
"Chief," she whispered over the COM. "Be advised that the passages I'm uploading into your NAV system no longer contain atmosphere. Proceeding127 into those regions will belethal to the rest of your team."There was a three-second pause, and then the Chief replied, "Understood."Cortana's decryption of the Covenant communiques referenc.ing the "holy one" finallycycled to a halt. The language in them was unusually ornate—even more so than theflorid prose of the higher-ranking Elites. It was impossible to develop a literal translation,but she gleaned128 that some dignitary was due at the Halo construct. Soon.
This visitor was so important that these warships129 were only the advance scouting130 party.More ships were on their way. Hun.dreds of them.
ERIC NYLUND 69"Chief," Cortana said. "We may have a prob—""Hold transmission, Cortana," the Chief interrupted. "We're outside the command center.Can you tell how many are inside?""Negative. They have disabled the bridge sensors," she replied.
"You heard Cortana," the Chief said, addressing his com.panions. "Expect anything.Sergeant, you and Locklear: Get in position.""Roger that," Sergeant Johnson whispered. "In position and ready to kick Covenant ass6.""We're about to blow the door on this end, Cortana. Stand by."Cortana picked up energy surges on the flagship's lateral sen.sors. The Covenant cruisers turned; their plasma weapons warmed and readied to fire.
"Chief," Cortana said. "Hurry!""Plasma grenades on my mark," the Chief said on the COM. "Mark! Toss them and takecover."The Chief tossed two plasma grenades. They burned magnesium-brilliant and adhered tothe heavy alloy131 of the bulk.head doors that encased the bridge—one of the alien weapons' more useful properties. He moved around the corner of the pas.sage66 and shielded Haverson and Polaski.
Five seconds elapsed, and a flash filled the hallway. The Chief moved back to the doors.They shone mirror-bright where the grenade had detonated but were otherwise unharmed.
A hundred grenades wouldn't have blasted through these doors—but when Covenant plasma grenades detonated, they disrupted electronics and shielding. The Chief dug hisgauntleted fingers into the door crack— hoping that the disruption had knocked out themotors and shielding keeping these doors closed.
He braced132 himself and tried to pull the doors apart at the seams. They slid a few centimeters, then ground to a halt. The Chief adjusted his footing and strained at them again, but the doors remained frozen in place.
The Chief's motion sensors pulsed a warning—there was movement directly on the other side of the door.
He shoved the muzzle133 of his assault rifle into the narrow open.ing and squeezed thetrigger. Spent shell casings clattered134 to the floor.
70HALO: FIRST STRIKEA howl echoed from the other side, and a curl of gray smoke drifted through the crack.
The Chief slung135 his rifle, grabbed the doors, flexed136, pulled— and this time the heavy metalmoved.
A flash of plasma fire washed over his shields, blinding him. He ignored it, closed his eyes,and continued to force his way through the door. Another plasma shot struck him in thechest.
The doors were half a meter apart—good enough.
He rolled to the side and gave his shields a moment to regenerate137.
Nothing. The suit's alarms pulsed insistently138. He squinted through the glowing spots thatswam in his vision and scanned the damage report—the MJOLNIR's internal temperaturewas over sixty degrees Celsius139, and the Chief heard the whine of microcompressors in hisarmor, trying to compensate112.
"Marines!" he yelled. "Suppressing fire!""Hell yes, Master Chief," Locklear replied. Locklear dropped to one knee and fired throughthe opening; Johnson stood and fired over the younger Marine's head.
The Chief rebooted his shielding control software.
Nothing. His shield system was dead.
The shooting stopped. "I'm out," Locklear said.
"And I'm in," the Chief said.
. He rushed into the room and stepped over the dead Elite on the floor before him. Itstorso had been ripped open—shot as it tried to hold the doors closed.
The Chief scanned the room. It was circular, twenty meters across, with a raised platform in the center that was ten meters across and ringed with holographic control surfaces.The central platform floated over a pit in the floor. Within the pit were ex.ploded opticalconduits and a trio of Covenant Engineers, cow.ering in fear.
"Don't shoot the Engineers," Cortana warned. "We need them.""Understood," the Chief replied. "Acknowledge that order, Locklear."There was a pause over COM and then Locklear said, "Roger."Along the circular walls, floor-to-ceiling displays showed the flagship's status as a varietyof charts and graphs, peppered withERIC NYLUND 71the odd calligraphy140 of the Covenant. They also showed the space surrounding them, andthe five remaining Covenant cruisers closing in.
The Chief caught a motion in his peripheral141 vision: An Elite in jet-black armor materialized from the wall display, its light-bending camouflage dissolving. It strodetoward the Chief, roar.ing a challenge.
The Chief's rifle snapped up, and he squeezed the trigger. Three rounds spat38 from themuzzle, then the bolt locked open. The ammo counter read oo—empty.
The shots flared142 on the Elite's shielding; a lucky round pene.trated and deformed143 itsshoulder. Purple-black blood spattered on the deck, but it shrugged144 off the wound andkept coming.
Haverson charged into the room and leveled his pistol. "Hold it!" he yelled, and thumbedoff the weapon's safety.
The Elite drew a plasma pistol and fired at the Lieutenant— but never took its eyes offthe Chief.
Haverson cursed and scrambled out of the room as the plasma charge slashed145 at him.
The Chief altered his grip on the rifle and crouched in a low fighting stance. Even with theshield malfunction146, he was confi.dent1 he could take a single Elite.
The Elite removed its helmet and dropped it. The plasma pis.tol clattered to the deck amoment later. It leaned forward, and its mandibles parted in what the Chief guessed hadto be a smile. It moved closer, and a blue- white blade of energy flashed to life in its hands.
The Elite raised the energy blade and charged.
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dent
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| n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展 | |
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covenant
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| n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约 | |
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debris
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| n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片 | |
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plasma
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| n.血浆，细胞质，乳清 | |
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hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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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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hind
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seraph
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darted
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flipped
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| 轻弹( flip的过去式和过去分词 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥 | |
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deployed
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| （尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用 | |
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subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sergeant
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invaluable
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neural
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interface
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pro
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discomfort
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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22
interfaced
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| 界面上的，界面的 | |
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23
crouch
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| v.蹲伏，蜷缩，低头弯腰；n.蹲伏 | |
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24
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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26
fin
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| n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼 | |
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27
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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28
tentacles
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| n.触手( tentacle的名词复数 )；触角；触须；触毛 | |
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29
tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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30
roster
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| n.值勤表，花名册 | |
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31
elite
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| n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的 | |
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32
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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33
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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34
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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35
twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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36
corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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37
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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38
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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39
smirked
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| v.傻笑( smirk的过去分词 ) | |
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40
sloppy
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| adj.邋遢的，不整洁的 | |
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41
reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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42
overlapped
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| _adj.重叠的v.部分重叠( overlap的过去式和过去分词 )；（物体）部份重叠；交叠；（时间上）部份重叠 | |
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43
vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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44
spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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45
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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46
tenant
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| n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用 | |
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47
ironic
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| adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的 | |
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48
salute
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| 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 | |
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49
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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50
mid
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| adj.中央的，中间的 | |
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51
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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52
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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53
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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54
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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55
punctured
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| v.在（某物）上穿孔( puncture的过去式和过去分词 )；刺穿（某物）；削弱（某人的傲气、信心等）；泄某人的气 | |
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56
tacked
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| 用平头钉钉( tack的过去式和过去分词 )； 附加，增补； 帆船抢风行驶，用粗线脚缝 | |
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57
whine
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| v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣 | |
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58
insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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59
indicator
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| n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器 | |
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60
flare
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| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
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61
bead
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| n.念珠；(pl.)珠子项链；水珠 | |
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62
elongated
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| v.延长，加长( elongate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63
twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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64
unleashed
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| v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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65
crossfire
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| n.被卷进争端 | |
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66
sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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67
singed
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| v.浅表烧焦( singe的过去式和过去分词 )；（毛发）燎，烧焦尖端[边儿] | |
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68
rife
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| adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的 | |
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69
thump
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| v.重击，砰然地响；n.重击，重击声 | |
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70
eerie
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| adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的 | |
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71
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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72
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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73
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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74
fluorescent
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| adj.荧光的，发出荧光的 | |
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75
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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76
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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77
scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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78
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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79
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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80
squinted
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| 斜视( squint的过去式和过去分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看 | |
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81
infiltrate
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| vt./vi.渗入，透过；浸润 | |
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82
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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83
socket
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| n.窝，穴，孔，插座，插口 | |
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84
rippled
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| 使泛起涟漪（ripple的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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85
slashing
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| adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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86
marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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87
naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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88
deter
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| vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住 | |
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89
reset
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| v.重新安排，复位；n.重新放置；重放之物 | |
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90
sluggish
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| adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的 | |
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91
intrigued
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| adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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92
buffer
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| n.起缓冲作用的人(或物)，缓冲器；vt.缓冲 | |
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93
analyze
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| vt.分析，解析 (=analyse) | |
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94
hijacked
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| 劫持( hijack的过去式和过去分词 )； 绑架； 拦路抢劫； 操纵（会议等，以推销自己的意图） | |
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95
swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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96
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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97
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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98
coordinates
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| n.相配之衣物；坐标( coordinate的名词复数 )；（颜色协调的）配套服装；[复数]女套服；同等重要的人（或物）v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的第三人称单数 )；协调；协同；成为同等 | |
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99
tickle
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| v.搔痒，胳肢；使高兴；发痒；n.搔痒，发痒 | |
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100
forerunners
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| n.先驱( forerunner的名词复数 )；开路人；先兆；前兆 | |
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101
revered
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| v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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102
collate
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| vt.(仔细)核对，对照；(书籍装订前)整理 | |
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103
codify
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| v.将法律、法规等编成法典 | |
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104
nagging
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| adj.唠叨的，挑剔的；使人不得安宁的v.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的现在分词 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责 | |
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105
corrupted
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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106
vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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107
egress
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| n.出去；出口 | |
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108
spike
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| n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效 | |
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109
lateral
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| adj.侧面的，旁边的 | |
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110
sensors
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| n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 ) | |
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111
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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112
compensate
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| vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消 | |
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113
automated
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| a.自动化的 | |
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114
herded
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| 群集，纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 )； 放牧； （使）向…移动 | |
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115
camouflage
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| n./v.掩饰，伪装 | |
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116
intersection
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| n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集 | |
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117
ongoing
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| adj.进行中的，前进的 | |
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118
protocol
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| n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节 | |
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119
vents
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| （气体、液体等进出的）孔、口( vent的名词复数 )； （鸟、鱼、爬行动物或小哺乳动物的）肛门； 大衣等的)衩口； 开衩 | |
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120
squelched
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| 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 | |
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121
berated
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| v.严厉责备，痛斥( berate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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122
squeal
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| v.发出长而尖的声音；n.长而尖的声音 | |
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123
methane
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| n.甲烷，沼气 | |
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124
suffocated
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| （使某人）窒息而死( suffocate的过去式和过去分词 )； （将某人）闷死； 让人感觉闷热； 憋气 | |
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125
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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126
ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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127
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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128
gleaned
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| v.一点点地收集（资料、事实）( glean的过去式和过去分词 )；（收割后）拾穗 | |
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129
warships
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| 军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只 | |
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130
scouting
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| 守候活动，童子军的活动 | |
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131
alloy
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| n.合金，(金属的)成色 | |
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132
braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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133
muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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134
clattered
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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135
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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136
flexed
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| adj.[医]曲折的，屈曲v.屈曲( flex的过去式和过去分词 )；弯曲；（为准备大干而）显示实力；摩拳擦掌 | |
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137
regenerate
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| vt.使恢复，使新生；vi.恢复，再生；adj.恢复的 | |
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138
insistently
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| ad.坚持地 | |
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139
Celsius
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| adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的 | |
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140
calligraphy
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| n.书法 | |
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141
peripheral
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| adj.周边的，外围的 | |
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142
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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143
deformed
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| adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的 | |
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144
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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145
slashed
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| v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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146
malfunction
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| vi.发生功能故障，发生故障，显示机能失常 | |
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