TIME:DATE RECORD [[ERROR]]ANOMALYDate unknown Captured Covenant dropshipnear flagship Ascendant Justice, in anomalous Slipspace bubble.

The faintly blue luminous walls of the Covenant dropship pressed in, which made Johnfeel slightly claustrophobic. It was ironic when he stopped to think about it, because hewas always inside his skintight armor. His fellow  Spartans sat in the bay be.side him,motionless.

Fred, designated Blue-Two on this mission, was John's second in command. He had foughtin more than 120 campaigns, was a great leader and a quick thinker. Sometimes he tookthe respon.sibility of his command too  seriously, though, empathizing too deeply withany wounded member of his team.

Li, Blue-Three, was the team's zero-gee combat specialist. He had trained extensivelywith microgravity equipment and mar.tial arts at the UNSC's extreme-conditions facilityon Chiron in orbit about Mars. He was as much  at home in free fall as the rest of them were on solid land, and John was glad to have him on this mission.

Anton, Blue-Four, had John worried. He spent most of his life with his feet firmly plantedon the ground. He'd cross-trained in tracking, camouflage, and stealth, and had been usedalmost ex.clusively on ground-based  operations. More than once he had expresseddiscomfort in zero-gee situations.

Will, Blue-Five, was quiet, but had never failed to complete his mission. He wasn't always that way, though. When he was younger he was the one with the jokes and riddles thatkept the team's spirits high. Something  had hardened in him over the220HALO: FIRST STRIKEyears ... as it had in them all. But with Will something special had been lost.

Grace, Blue-Six, had a knack for explosives. She could shape a charge to cut through asingle steel bolt with only a whisper sound, or rig a hundred thousand liters of kerosene to blow into a firestorm from hell. Ironically  her temper was nonexistent.

John opened a COM channel. "Give me a systems check, Blue Team."Five acknowledgment lights winked on.

"This reminds me of the underwater mission Chief Mendez sent us on at Emerald Cove," Fred whispered. "When he sabo.taged half our air tanks? And we ended up stealing his.""And after," Anton said, laughing, "we ditched him and camped on that island. It was a week with nothing to do but light bonfires, bake clams, and surf.""Mmrnmm," Grace added, "calamari."John wondered if Emerald Cove even existed anymore. The UNSC had abandoned thatcolony a decade ago. The Covenant had most likely glassed that world.

"Blue Team." Polaski's voice broke over the COM. "Local conditions are as calm as they're going to get. Exiting in three... two...one!'

John felt the acceleration in the pit of his stomach. He rose, moved to the hatch, andpopped it open. Outside, Ascendant Jus.tice's hull moved past them—almost every square centimeter of the flagship's polished alloy  skin had been scarred by heat andmicrometeors; tendrils of metal vapor snaked and shimmered in the vacuum.

On Ascendant Justice's upper deck he saw the looming shadow of the inverted UNSCfrigate Gettysburg still miracu.lously attached. It was on fire, pockmarked with craters,and venting atmosphere, but it was remarkably  intact. If not for the thousands of deadNaval personnel undoubtedly on board, he might have christened the ship "lucky."The dropship slowed and Polaski drifted, turned, and de.scended onto the surface of theship.

"Latch engaged," she said over the COM. "All yours, Chief.""Fred, Grace, and I will reconnoiter," he told Blue Team. "An.ton, Will, and Li, get ready tomove the arc welder and hull platesERIC NYLUND 221we scavenged from the Gettysburg when we give the all-clear signal."John eased his boots onto the hull. Their magnetic soles clamped onto the metal with asatisfying click.

Polaski had landed the Covenant dropship so that its mandibles cradled the hole and gave them some shelter.

Overhead, Slipspace was on fire. It looked as if someone had doused the night with jet fueland ignited it. Bloody, boiling streaks of flame tore across a midnight-blue sky. Meteors flashed past and sprayed molten metal in  trails of glittering Stardust.

A fist-sized projectile blurred past the Master Chief and rammed into the ship's starboardside. Sparks and liquefied alloy spattered into space. His shields flickered as debrisricocheted from the armor's protective field.

They had to move fast. The Admiral was right: This was a shooting galley. The quickerthey sealed that hole and got out of here—the better.

John turned and swept his rifle over the terrain. There were bumpy sensor nodes,kilometers of conduits, and a dozen gaping canyons in the hull. A legion of Covenantwarriors could hide in this mess.

No enemy contact. Nothing on his motion sensors, either.

He stepped close to the main-drive conduit and examined the hole. The pipe was fivemeters across and still red ............