Matt-038 (Halo Fanfiction)

Chapter 82: Get Us Out of Here

Author's Note: If you have any tips writing tips, please feel free to comment.

Again, I gratefully accept constructive criticism as a means to help me develop my skills further as a writer.

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Chapter 82: Get Us Out of Here

Location: Tau Ceti system, Aboard UNSC vessel Gettysburg, near Covenant battle station Unyielding Hierophant

September 13, 2552

1825 hours

Matt and Blue Team stepped off the lift and onto the bridge of the Gettysburg.

"Sir—" Matt started to salute Admiral Whitcomb, but neither the Admiral nor Lieutenant Haverson was there.

The only two on the bridge were Sergeant Johnson, who stared at the forward viewscreens, and Crystal, whose holographic figure burned bright blue and streamed with code symbols and mathematics beyond Matt's comprehension.

Sergeant Johnson turned toward them. He looked the Spartans over and frowned, noting that not all of them had returned.

"I'm not sure what that thing is." The Sergeant nodded to view-screen one, centered on the Covenant command-and-control station. "Don't look like any 'uneven elephant' to me—more like two squid kissing. Whatever it is, damned glad it's going to blow up. Nice job—almost as good as if we sent in the Marines." One corner of his mouth quirked into a smile.

"Where's the Admiral?" Matt asked. "And Lieutenant Haverson and Cortana?"

The Sergeant turned to John and reached into his belt pouch. "The Admiral told me to give this to you, Chief," he said as he handed John Cortana's chip.

"Thank you, Sergeant," John said.

The Sergeant's half smile vanished, and his eyes darkened. He moved to Weapons Station One. "I'll show you. A Clarion spy drone is nearly in position."

The center viewscreen fuzzed with static and then resolved to show the Ascendant Justice moving out of the shadow of the moon. The once formidable Covenant flagship was a wreck; its hull was breached in a dozen places, its skeletal frame exposed, and only a handful of plasma conduits flickered with life.

"I don't understand," Matt said. He stepped closer to Crystal's hologram. Being near the real Crystal—not one of her fragmented copies—reassured him that everything was under control. "What's going on?"

"Stand by, Commander," she replied. "I'm attempting to attune Ascendant Justice's Slipspace drive to the Gettysburg's mass and profile."

"That's what we were up to while you were off sightseeing," the Sergeant told him. "We pulled the Slipspace matrix out of our piggybacked ship and slapped it into the Gettysburg."

Matt wheeled and faced the viewscreens. Ascendant Justice couldn't jump? Then why was it headed straight toward the Covenant fleet? A decoy?

He glanced at the countdown timer: 2:09 left.

"Not a decoy," he whispered,"... a lure. Sergeant, get a signal to Ascendant Justice. Bounce it off that spy drone if you have to."

"Roger, Commander," Sergeant Johnson said and tapped in commands. An error warning blared. He shook his head, puzzled, and tried again, carefully retyping.

"Linda, take the NAV station. Fred, you're on Ops. Will, give the Sergeant a hand at Weapons One. John, you're with me."

Blue Team jumped to their assigned stations.