"1 - The Fall Of Reach" - читать интересную книгу автора (Halo ebooks txt)

Praise forHALO: The Fall of Reach
Copyright
HALO
THE FALL OF REACH
Eric Nylund
A Del ReyоBook
THE BALLANTINE PUBLISHING GROUP Х NEW YORK
For Syne Mitchell. She watched my six, patched me up, and provided transportation to my DZ everyday
Чno soldier could ever ask for better support in the field . . . or a better wife.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Singled out for conspicuous merit and bravery under fire are the following personnel:
Eric S. Trautmann went far above and beyond the call of duty providing background material, editing,
reality checks, and a constant supply of caffeine and encouragement.
Bungie for making a superb game, and in particular: Jason Jones, Alex Seropian, John Howard, and
Lorraine McLees.
The brilliant tactical unit at MicrosoftТs Franchise Development Group: Nancy Figatner, Brannon Boren,
and Doug Zartman.
MicrosoftТs User Experience fireteam: Keith Cirillo, Jo Tyo, and Matt Whiting.
The troopers at Ballantine/Del Rey: Caron Harris, David Stevenson, Steve Palmer, Crystal VelasquezЧ
and special thanks to Steve Saffel.
PROLOGUE
0500 Hours, February 12, 2535 (Military Calendar) / Lambda Serpentis System, Jericho VII
Theater
of Operations
УContact. All teams stand by: enemy contact, my position.Ф
The Chief knew there were probably more than a hundred of themЧmotion sensors were off the scale.
He wanted to see them for himself, though; his training made that lesson clear: УMachines break. Eyes
donТt.Ф
The four Spartans that composed Blue Team covered his back, standing absolutely silent and immobile
in their MJOLNIR combat armor. Someone had once commented that they looked like Greek war gods
in the armor . . . but his Spartans were far more effective and ruthless than HomerТs gods had ever been.
He snaked the fiber-optic probe up and over the three-meter-high stone ridge. When it was in place, the
Chief linked it to his helmetТs heads-up display.
On the other side he saw a valley with eroded rock walls and a river meandering through it . . . and
camped along the banks as far as he could see were Grunts.
The Covenant used these stocky aliens as cannon fodder. They stood a meter tall and wore armored
environment suits that replicated the atmosphere of their frozen homeworld. They reminded the Chief of
biped dogs, not only in appearance, but because their speechЧeven with the new translation softwareЧ
was an odd combination of high-pitched squeaks, guttural barks, and growls.
They were about as smart as dogs, too. But what they lacked in brainpower, they made up for in sheer
tenacity. He had seen them hurl themselves at their enemies until the ground was piled high with their
corpses . . . and their opponents had depleted their ammunition.
These Grunts were unusually well armed: needlers, plasma pistols, and there were four stationary
plasma cannons. Those could be a problem.
One other problem: there were easily a thousand of them.
This operation had to go off without a hitch. Blue TeamТs mission was to draw out the Covenant rear
guard and let Red Team slip through in the confusion. Red Team would then plant a HAVOK tactical
nuke. When the next Covenant ship landed, dropped its shields, and started to unload its troops, theyТd
get a thirty-megaton surprise.
The Chief detached the optics and took a step back from the rock wall. He passed the tactical