1802 hours, September 22,2552 (Military Calendar) Aboard unidentified Covenant flagship, uncharted system, Halo debris field.

The Master Chief ducked as the hissing energy blade slashed at him. He dived toward theElite and slammed the butt of his ri.fle into the alien's midsection.

The Elite doubled over, and the Chief brought the rifle butt down to smash the alien's skull—But the Elite rolled back. There was a blur of motion as the en.ergy blade lashed out andneatly bisected the assault rifle. The two halves of the wrecked MA5B clattered to thedeck.

The blade of crackling white-hot energy narrowly missed the Chief. The MJOLNIR'sinternal temperature skyrocketed.

He couldn't risk dancing at this range, so the Master Chief did the last thing the creature expected: He stepped closer and grabbed its wrists.

The bands of muscle on the Elite's arms were iron hard, and it struggled to free itself from the Chief's grasp. The Chief wrenched the alien's sword arm and forced the blade away— but this took most of his strength, and  he had to weaken his grasp on the Elite's other hand.

The energy blade blurred perilously close to the Chief's head. It missed by a fraction of acentimeter and sent a wash of static across his heads-up display.

The blade was a flattened triangle of white-hot plasma, con.tained in an electromagneticenvelope that emanated from its hilt. The Chief had seen such weapons slice battle-armoredERIC NYLUND 73ODSTs in half and gouge gaping wounds in Titanium-A armor plating.

Worse, this Elite was tough, cunning, well trained—and it hadn't spent days fightingnonstop on Halo. The Chief felt every wound, pulled muscle, and strained tendon in hisbody.

Haverson and Polaski moved onto the bridge, their pistols drawn, but neither of them hada clear line of fire.

"Move, Chief!" Haverson shouted. "Damn it, we've got no shot!"Easier said than done. If he let go, the Elite would cut him in two.

The Master Chief grunted, struggling to turn the Elite.

The alien fought back for a moment, then—instead of resisting—lurched back, right into the path of the Chief's ad.vancing teammates.

The Elite flicked the angle of its blade flat so the arc of energy whipped toward Haverson and Polaski.

Haverson screamed and fell to the ground as the energy blade sliced through his pistoland across his chest. Polaski cursed and fired a single shot, but it glanced off the Elite'sshield.

The alien glanced at the source of the fire and growled in its guttural, warbling tongue.

"Get the Lieutenant out of here," the Master Chief barked. He raised his knee to his chestand lashed out with a straight kick. His boot connected with the Elite's breastplate. The alien's en.ergy shield flared, then faded, and  its breastplate cracked like porcelainbeneath the force of the blow.

The alien staggered back, dragging the Master Chief with it. It coughed up purple-blackblood that smeared John's visor, ob.scuring his vision. Its foot struck something on theground—the alien's fallen helmet—and it lost  its footing.

Together they crashed to the ground.

The Master Chief kept his grip on the Elite's sword arm. The alien's other hand, however,wrenched free and grabbed the fallen plasma pistol. The weapon's muzzle charged withsickly green energy.

The Chief rolled to his right as the pistol discharged. A globe of plasma arced across thecompartment and splashed over the displays behind him.

The instruments flickered, then flashed and sparked as the en74 HALO: FIRST STRIKEergy bolt melted their systems. Before the displays went dark, however, the Master Chiefsaw one of the Covenant cruisers open fire. A lance of plasma rushed through spacetoward the flagship.

The Chief and the Elite struggled, rising to their feet. The Chief batted the plasma pistolaside, and it clattered across the control center.

The Elite's mouth opened, and it snapped at the Chief. It was angry or panicking now...and he felt it getting stronger.

His grasp on the alien loosened.

There was motion behind the Elite; Sergeant Johnson and Locklear still struggled to gettheir hatch open more than a crack.

"Sergeant—prepare to fire.""Ready, Master Chief." the Sergeant cried from the other side of the hatch.

The Chief tightened his grip on the Elite's sword arm, shoved his forearm into the alien'sthroat and drove it backward, across the bridge. He slammed the creature into thepartially opened hatch.

The energy blade cut into the Master Chief's armor, boiling through the alloy thatprotected his upper arm.

"Sergeant, now! FirerGunfire exploded from the hatch, oddly muffled because the rounds impacted directlyinto the Elite's back. The alien snarled and contorted, but it held on to the Master Chief.The alien war.rior sawed the blade deeper,  cutting through the tough crys.talline layersof the MJOLNIR armor. Hydrostatic gel oozed from the wound... mixed with the Chief'sblood.

"Keep. Shooting."A bullet hole ap eared through the Elite's broken chestplate— bits of shattered armorand torn flesh spppattered over the Chief.

The Master Chief slammed the Elite into the bulkhead, and a control panel behind thealien sparked. The door to the escape corridor hissed open, and the creature reeled back.

The alien was off balance, and the Chief finally had leverage. He bulled the Elite backwardand hammered its arm into the wall. The alien metal rang like a gong, and the Elitedropped its energy sword. The blade guttered  and went dark as its fail-safes permanentlydisabled the weapon.

The Chief forced the alien back, step by step. The deck wasERIC NYLUND 75slippery with blood. Finally he twisted the Elite to the right and launched a powerfulopen-handed strike into the alien's wounded chest.

The Elite howled in pain and flew back, through the open hatch of an escape pod.

"Get off this ship," the Chief said. He hit a control stud and the hatch slammed shut. There was a sharp, metallic bang as the locking clamps released. The pod screamed away from the hull.

The Chief exhaled. Sweat dripped in his eyes, momentarily blurring his vision.

"Good work, Sergeant, Locklear," he panted. His shoulder burned. He tried to move it, butit was stiff and wouldn't respond.

The ship lurched.

"Plasma impact on the starboard foredeck!" Cortana called out. "Shields down to sixty-seven percent." She paused and then added, "Amazing radiative properties. Chief, you need to disable the navigation override so I  can maneuver."Haverson and Polaski strode toward the Chief. Haverson clutched his chest and grimacedin pain from the sword wound. Polaski set her hand on the Master Chief's shoulder."That's bad," she whispered. "Let me get a  first-aid kit from the Pelican, and—"The Chief shrugged off her touch. "Later." He saw her con.cerned expression melt into one of... what? Fear? Confusion?

"Cortana, show me what to do," the Chief said and made his way to the raised platform inthe center of the bridge. "Polaski, you and Haverson get that other hatch open.""Aye aye," Polaski muttered, her voice tight. She and Haver.son went to the hatch and gotto work.

The Master Chief glanced at the control surfaces. As his hand hovered over them, the flatcontrols rose and became a three-dimensional web of the distinctive Covenant calligraphy. "Where?" he asked.

"Move your hand to the right half a meter," Cortana said. "Up twenty centimeters. Thatcontrol. No, to the left." She s"ighed. That one. Tap it three times."Faint lights traced the surface as the Chief touched it; they flared red and orange andfinally cooled to brilliant blue.

"It worked," Cortana said. "NAV controls coming online. I can finally move this crate. Hangon."76 HALO: FIRST STRIKEThe ship spun to port. On the displays that still functioned, four more Covenant cruiserstracked them—and fired.

The flagship accelerated, but the plasma torpedoes arced and followed them. "No good,"Cortana said. "I can't overcome our inertia in this tub. They're going to hit us ... unless Ican get us into Slipspace."A rhythmic warble pulsed from one of the displays. It flashed red.

"Oh no," Cortana said.

The leading plasma torpedo impacted. Dull red fire smeared across the viewscreens.

"Oh no, what?" Haverson demanded.

"This ship's Slipspace generator is inert," Cortana replied. "The disabled NAV controlswere a trick. It must have been the Covenant AI; it lured me here while the drive wasphysically de.coupled from the reactor. I can maneuver all I want, give orders to theSlipspace generator—but without the system powered up were not going anywhere.""There's a Covenant AI?" Haverson muttered, and raised an eyebrow.

"Upload the coordinates to power coupling," the Master Chief said. "I'll take care of it."Two more plasma torpedoes impacted and splashed across the shield. "Energy shieldscollapsing," Cortana said. "Brace!"The last shot collided with the flagship. The hull heated, and plasma boiled layers ofarmor plating away. The ship rolled as plumes of superheated metal vapor outgassed.

"Another hit like that will breach the hull," Cortana said. "Moving this tub at flank speed.""The power coupling coordinates, Cortana," the Master Chief insisted.

A route appeared on his heads-up display. The engineering rooms were twenty decksbelow the bridge.

"Those won't do you any good," Cortana told him. "There are bound to be Elite hunt-andkill teams waiting for you. And even if you managed to remove them, there is no way tore.pair the power coupling in time. We don't have the tools or the expertise."ERIC NYLUND 77The Master Chief looked around the bridge. There had to be a way. There was always away—He leaned over the edge of the central platform and grabbed one of the CovenantEngineers that cowered below. He dragged it up by its float-sack. The creature squirmedand squealed.

"Maybe we don't have the expertise," he said and shook the Engineer. "But this thingdoes. Can you communicate with it? Tell it what we need?"There was a pause. Then Cortana replied, "There is an exten.sive communications suitein the Covenant lexic—""Just tell it I'm taking it to fix something.""All right, Chief," Cortana said.

A stream of high-pitched chirps emanated from the bridge speakers, and the Engineer'ssix eyes dilated. It stopped squirm.ing and grabbed hold of the Master Chief with itstentacles.

"It says 'good' and 'hurry,' " Cortana told him.

"Everyone else stay here," the Chief said.

"If you insist," Haverson muttered, his face pale. Blood trick.led from the wound in hischest.

The Master Chief looked at Johnson and Locklear. "Don't let the Covenant retake thebridge.""Not a problem, Chief," Sergeant Johnson said. He stopped to kick the dead Elite once inthe teeth, then slapped a fresh clip into his MA5B. He yanked the weapon's charge handle,fed a round into the chamber, and stood at arms. "Those Covenant sissies are going tohave to tango with me before they set one foot in this room."On the display two of the Covenant cruisers fired again.

The Chief watched as the plasma raced toward them, fire that spread across the black ofspace. "Cortana, buy me some time," he said.

"I'll do what I can, Chief," Cortana told him. "But you'd better move fast. I'm running outCortana was annoyed. She had let the Covenant AI—for that's what this other presence inthe system undoubtedly had to be— trick her. She had gone straight for the simplelockdown of the NAV systems. She never  performed a thorough systems check78 HALO: FIRST STRIKEof the ship, assuming that there had only been one point............