"3 - First Strike" - читать интересную книгу автора (Halo ebooks txt)

And the Bungie troopers who are slugging it out on virtual
battlefields across the universe to bring you the best game ever:
Jason Jones, Peter Parsons, and, of course, Joe Staten, Jaime
Griesemer, and Lorraine McLees.
SECTION
REACH
CHAPTER ONE
0622 hours, August 30,2552 (Military Calendar)\ UNSC
Vessel Pillar of Autumn, Epsilon Eridani system near
Reach Station Gamma.
SPARTAN-104, Frederic, twirled a combat knife, his fingers
nimble despite the bulky MJOLNIR combat armor that encased
his body. The blade traced a complicated series of graceful arcs
in the air. The few remaining Naval personnel on the deck turned
pale and averted their eyesЧa Spartan wielding a knife was generally
accompanied by the presence of several dead bodies.
He was nervous, and this was more than the normal pre-mission
jitters. The team's original objectiveЧthe capture of a Covenant
shipЧhad been scrubbed in the face of a new enemy offensive.
The Covenant were en route to Reach, the last of the United Nations
Space Command's major military strongholds.
Fred couldn't help but wonder what use ground troops would
be in a ship-to-ship engagement. The knife spun.
Around him, his squadmates loaded weapons, stacked gear,
and prepped for combat, their efforts redoubled since the ship's
Captain had personally come down to the mustering area to brief
the team leader, SPARTAN-117Чbut Fred was already squared
away. Only Kelly had finished stowing gear before him.
He balanced the point of the knife on his armored finger. It
hung there for several seconds, perfectly still.
A subtle shift in the Pillar of Autumn's gravity caused the
knife to tip. Fred plucked it from the air and sheathed it in a single
deft move. A cold feeling filled his stomach as he realized what
the gravity fluctuation meant: The ship had just changed
courseЧanother complication.
ERIC NYLUND 3
Master Chief SPARTAN-117ЧJohnЧmarched to the nearest
COM panel as Captain Keyes's face filled the screen.
Fred sensed a slight movement to his rightЧa subtle hand signal
from Kelly. He opened a private COM freq to his teammate.
"Looks like we're in for more surprises," she said.
"Roger that," he replied, "though I think I've had enough surprises
for one op."
Kelly chuckled.
Fred focused his attention on John's exchange with Keyes.
Each SpartanЧselected from an early age and trained to the pinnacle
of military scienceЧhad undergone multiple augmentation
procedures: biochemical, genetic, and cybernetic. As a
result, a Spartan could hear a pin drop in a sandstorm, and every
Spartan in the room was interested in what the Captain had to