"William C. Dietz - Halo 1 - The Flood" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dietz William)

A hundred units aft, sealed within the destroyerтАЩs fire control center, a half-commander acknowledged
the order and issued instructions of his own. Lights began to strobe, the decks transmitted a low
frequency vibration, and more than three hundred battle-ready Covenant warriorsтАФa mix of what the
humans called Elites, Jackals, and GruntsтАФrushed to board their assigned transports. There were
humans to kill.

None of them wanted to miss the fun.



SECTION I

PILLAR OF AUTUMN
CHAPTER ONE

0127 Hours (ShipтАЩs Time), September 19, 2552 (Military Calendar) / UNSC CruiserPillar of
Autumn , location unknown.

ThePillar of Autumn shuddered as her Titanium-A armor took a direct hit.

Just another item in the CovenantтАЩs bottomless arsenal,Captain Jacob Keyes thought.Not a plasma
torpedo, or weтАЩd already be free-floating molecules.

The warship had taken a beating from Covenant forces off Reach and it was a miracle that the hull
remained intact and even more remarkable that theyтАЩd been able to make a jump into Slipspace at all.

тАЬStatus!тАЭ Keyes barked. тАЬWhat just hit us?тАЭ

тАЬCovenant fighter, sir. Seraph-class,тАЭ the tactical officer, Lieutenant Hikowa, replied. Her porcelain
features darkened. тАЬTricky bastard must have powered down and slipped past our sentry ships.тАЭ

A humorless grin tugged at KeyesтАЩ mouth. Hikowa was a first-rate tactical officer, utterly ruthless in a
fight. She seemed to take the Covenant fighter pilotтАЩs actions as a personal insult. тАЬTeach him a lesson,
Lieutenant,тАЭ he said.

She nodded and tapped a series of orders into her panelтАФnew orders for theAutumn тАЩs fighter
squadron.

A moment later, there was radio chatter as one of theAutumn тАЩs C709 Longsword fighters went after the
Seraph, followed by a cheer as the tiny alien ship transformed into a momentary sun, complete with its
own system of co-orbiting debris.

Keyes wiped a trickle of sweat from his forehead. He checked his displayтАФtheyтАЩd reverted back into
real space twenty minutes ago.Twenty minutes , and the Covenant picket patrols had already found
them and started shooting.

He turned to the bridgeтАЩs main viewport, a large transparent bubble slung beneath theAutumn тАЩs bow
superstructure. A massive purple gas giantтАФThresholdтАФdominated the spectacular view. One of the
Longsword fighters glided past as it continued its patrol.