Halo Lighting System First Strike Games - Manual (Page 12)

8 HALO: FIRST STRIKE
Their job this time was to get groundside and protect the gen-
erators that powered the orbiting Magnetic Accelerator Cannon
platforms. The fleet was getting ripped to shreds in space. The
massive MAC guns were the only thing keeping the Covenant
from overrunning their lines and taking Reach.
Fred knew that if anything had Kelly and the other Spartans
rattled, it was leaving behind the Master Chief and his
hand-picked Blue Team.
Fred would have infinitely preferred to be with Blue Team. He
knew every Spartan here felt like they were taking the easy way
out. If the ship-jockeys managed to hold off the Covenant as-
sault wave, Red Team's mission was a milk run, albeit a neces-
sary one.
Kelly's hand bumped into Fred's shoulder, and he recognized
it as a consoling gesture. Kelly's razor-edged agility was multi-
plied fivefold by the reactive circuits in her MJOLNIR armor.
She wouldn't have "accidentally" touched him unless she meant it,
and the gesture spoke volumes.
Before he could say anything to her, the Pelican angled and
gravity settled the Spartans' stomachs.
"Rough ride ahead," the pilot warned.
The Spartans bent their knees as the Pelican rolled into a tight
turn. A crate broke its retaining straps, bounced, and stuck to
the wall.
The COM channel blasted static and resolved into the voice
of the Longsword's pilot: "Bravo Two-Six, engaging enemy
fighters. Am taking heavy incoming fire—" The channel was
abruptly swallowed in static.
An explosion buffeted the Pelican, and bits of metal pinged
off its thick hull.
Patches of armor heated and bubbled away. Energy blasts
flashed through the boiling metal, filling the interior with fumes
for a split second before the ship's pressurized atmosphere blew
the haze out the gash in its side.
Sunlight streamed though the lacerated Titanium-A armor.
The dropship lurched to port, and Fred glimpsed five Covenant
Seraph fighters driving after them and wobbling in the turbulent
air.
"Gotta shake 'em," the pilot screamed. "Hang on!"