Halo Lighting System First Strike Games - Manual (Page 32)

28 HALO: FIRST STRIKE
take an alternate flight path: straight down the middle, and straight
over the Covenant horde.
They'd only need one run to do this. They'd probably only get
one run.
He activated a COM frequency. "Go."
Kelly hit the acceleration and glided toward the cruiser. Fred
fell in behind her. He armed the fuel rod gun built into the
Banshee.
They were six kilometers from the cruiser when Kelly achieved
the maximum speed of her flier. Grunts and Jackals in the fields
below craned their necks as the Spartans flashed over them.
They had to go faster. Fred felt every Covenant eye watching
them. He dived, trading his altitude for acceleration, and Joshua
and Kelly did the same.
Communication symbols flashed across his Banshee's wind-
shield display. The UNSC software built into their armor worked
only with some of the spoken Covenant languages—not their
written words. Odd, curling characters scrolled across the Ban-
shee's displays.
Fred hit one of the response symbols.
There was a pause, the display cleared, and dozens more sym-
bols flashed, twice as fast.
Fred clicked the display off.
Three kilometers to go, and his heart beat so hard he heard it
thunder in his ears.
Kelly pulled slightly ahead of them. She was now thirty me-
ters off the ground, gaining as much speed as she could, driving
straight for the cruiser's gravity lift.
The nearest guard tower tracked her; its plasma cannon flared
and fired.
Kelly's flier climbed and banked to evade the energy fire. The
bolt of superheated ionized gas brushed against her starboard
fuselage. Energy spray melted the Banshee's front faring, and
her ship slowed.
A dozen plasma turrets turned to track them.
Fred banked and opened fire. Energy bursts from the Ban-
shee's primary weapon strafed the guard tower. Joshua did the
same, and a river of fire streaked toward the towers.
Fred hit the firing stud for the Banshee's heavy weapon, and a