Halo Lighting System First Strike Games - Manual (Page 219)

ERIC NYLUND 215
Dr. Halsey removed her glasses, and her eyes widened. "Nor-
mally, they can't. If they can fire, then logically, we're not in
Slipspace. And wherever we are," she murmured, "the rules have
changed."
The Admiral frowned. "Cortana," he shouted. "Whatever you
do, do not return—"
Too late. Cortana returned fire.
Columns of fire streaked from Ascendant Justice—streamers
that twisted and helixed, then vanished and reappeared.
The bubble of tangled blue space containing Ascendant Jus-
tice and the Covenant warships now contained at least forty bolts
of superheated plasma circling in random directions and accel-
erated to incalculable velocities.
Three spheres of roiling fire appeared in front of the nearest
Covenant cruiser and splashed across its bow. The first boiled
away its shimmering silver shield; the second and third melted
the armor and alloy skin beneath. Atmosphere vented and spun
the massive ship like a child's pinwheel.
"Hot damn," Sergeant Johnson crowed. "All we have to do is
wait for those trigger-happy bastards to take themselves out.
Look, they're firing again."
The Covenant weapons heated and squeezed out a second salvo
of plasma. The guided bolts of fire veered off course, swarmed,
disappeared, reappeared, and spun out of control though the local-
ized Slipspace bubble.
"No, Sergeant," Dr. Halsey said, her voice turning cold. "We're
all in the same mess."
"Cortana," the Master Chief said, "drop the launch bay blast
door. Now!"
The three-meter-thick door overhead shuddered and slid down.
A streamer of plasma on a parallel trajectory flashed through
the dark not half a kilometer from the Master Chief's face—so
close that the external temperature rose twenty degrees even
through the ship's shields.
Red fire illuminated Ascendant Justice's starboard shield as
plasma splashed across them; the film separating the launch bay
from the external vacuum rippled like a thousand broken mir-
rors. Static crackled across the Master Chief's armor, and his
shields resonated in sympathy.