7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrjCQMC0ELgI stood in front of the glass dome, staring out into the vastness of space. Inky darkness stretched forever, scattered with stars as far as I could see. Of course it was vast, it was space but seeing it in person was something else. I fiddled with the holopad in my palm as I watched the planet below.
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Pandora, the exomoon, glowed blue and green, streaked with swirling bands of white cloud.
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“Having second thoughts, Pip?” a familiar voice buzzed from my palm, startling me.
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I glanced down. The silhouette of a man in an old navy uniform flickered into form on my holopad. He sat cross-legged, looking up at me with his head propped in his hand.
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“Wha—no. I’m just—It’s just…” I exhaled and composed myself. “I’m just thinking about space. It’s so…big.”
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“It’s space. What did you expect?”
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“Yeah, but seeing it in person is…a lot different than I imagined.”
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He shifted to standing, staring into the empty void beyond the dome.
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“We’re 4.37 light-years from Earth, 2.74 light-years from the nearest colony, and 3.45 light-years away from—”
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“Yup! I get it, Tedros. We’re pretty far.”
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“I’m just putting it into perspective.”
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A small smile tugged at my mouth. “Thanks. I get it.” I sighed and turned back to the darkness. This was my first major mission, and the fear of messing it up had been creeping in one too many times. But wasn't the only reason why my stress and anxiety has been keeping me awake for the past nights.
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Usually, I’d be flying the Pelican, hauling basic equipment around Sigma Octanus IV. But word from up top was that they needed pilots to go to Pandora, so I’d been assigned to the 26th Naval Air Squadron aboard the Halcyon—class cruiser, the UNSC Notos. We were to conduct reconnaissance, fire support, and vehicle transport to aid the soldiers on the exomoon in case of Covenant attack.
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For some reason, the Covenant were especially interested in this moon, and no one knows why.
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A certain sense of unease gnawed at my gut. There hadn’t been any word of Covenant forces, no comms, no way of knowing where they were. They’d been evading us, and it was clear. The thought made my anxiety spike.
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They could be anywhere, I thought.
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I forced myself away from the dome and started toward the loading deck. The corridor curved through the cruiser’s interior, its metal walls humming softly beneath my boots. Somewhere ahead, the other pilots would already be gathering beside the Pelicans, checking harnesses and arguing over who had drawn the worst assignment. The thought of their familiar voices steadied me.
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At least, that was what I told myself.
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The closer I got, the louder the ship became. Doors hissed open and shut. Engines rumbled behind reinforced steel walls. Overhead, the intercom crackled with clipped orders, most of them swallowed by static before I could make out the words.
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“Pip?” Tedros’s voice buzzed from the holopad in my palm. His flickering silhouette had reappeared, his expression suddenly sharper than before. “You need to get to the loading deck. Now.”
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“I’m almost there. Why, What happened?”
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“We’ve lost contact with—”
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The ship lurched.
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For one second, everything went silent.
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A colossal explosion erupted somewhere beyond the corridor wall. White fire flashed through the seams of the blast doors, followed by a thunderous roar that punched through my chest. The floor shook beneath me. I was thrown sideways, my shoulder slamming into the wall as the holopad flew from my hand and skittered across the deck.
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Alarms began to scream to life.
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I couldn’t hear anything else. My vision filled with sparks and shaking shadows. The air tasted of metal and burned circuitry, and a high, thin ringing replaced the once calming hum of the ship around me. I tried to push myself upright, but my arms refused to listen. The corridor tilted, though I knew it was the other way around, that it was me who had lost all sense of direction.
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“Pip!” someone shouted.
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Or maybe they didn’t. Maybe I only imagined it.
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The emergency lights strobed red as the loading-deck doors groaned open ahead of me. Through the gap, I saw bodies scattered across the floor. Pilots in flight suits crawled away from the blast, some clutching their heads, others staring blankly at the ceiling. One of the Pelicans had broken loose from its restraints and hung crookedly above the deck, its landing gear sparking against the metal rails.
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“Get up!” a voice bellowed. “Move, move, move!”
It was sergeant McCormick, his hands gripped my wrist tightly as if to steady himself. I could see the right side of his face, a streak of red across it. Beads of sweat cascaded down his cheek as his chest heaved to catch his breath.
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"But what about the others—"
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"Don't worry about them, I said MOVE and that's an order!"
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I grabbed the edge of the doorway and dragged myself forward. My knees wobbled beneath me. Each step sent another wave of nausea rolling through my stomach, and the ringing in my ears grew louder whenever I tried to think.
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Tedros’s holopad lay a few metres away, its screen cracked and flickering. The small yellowish-gold silhouette of him struggled to form above it.
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“Pip,” he said, though his voice sounded as if it came from the bottom of a well. “The Covenant found us.”
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Another tremor shuddered through the ship. Around me, the other pilots stumbled to their feet, dazed and bleeding, reaching for one another as the loading deck filled with smoke. Beyond the open launch bay, stars spun wildly against the blackness of space.
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Then something vast moved across them.
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A dark shape slid over the hull, blotting out the stars.
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I stared up at it, unable to breathe. Somewhere in the smoke, a pilot shouted that we were under attack. Somewhere else, someone was calling for a medic. But all I could see was the enormous silhouette hanging beyond the loading bay and the certainty that the Covenant had been waiting for us all along.
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Gathering what little strength I had left, I snatched up Tedros’s holopad and sprinted toward the Pelicans. I scanned the chaos, counting the ships as I searched for mine.
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“Where are you, NOBLE 16...?”
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Then I spotted it. Somehow, it had survived the blast unscathed. I scrambled inside, jammed the key into the ignition, and plugged Tedros’s holopad into the Pelican’s dashboard.
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The Pelican shook beneath me as the engines spun awake. Warning lights flashed across the dashboard, painting the cockpit in furious red. I wrestled myself into the pilot’s seat and pulled the harness tight with shaking hands. I grabbed the rebreather that I had hung on one of the switches above my head and fastened it to my face.
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“Come on,” I muttered. “Come on, NOBLE 16.”
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The ignition coughed once, twice, and then the entire cockpit came alive. Displays flickered into focus. The targeting grid stuttered across the windshield, struggling to make sense of the smoke-choked launch bay.
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Tedros’s silhouette steadied above the console. His face was pale with static, the edges of his uniform breaking apart and reforming in jagged yellowish lines.
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“Pip, I have an incoming transmission from the bridge.”
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"I thought we lost contact?"
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"Yeah, but only for a moment when that explosion happened, it probably messed with the communication circuits"
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“Okay, put it through.” I reached for the flight controls, though my fingers still felt numb.
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A woman’s voice cut through the cockpit speakers. Calm. Almost frighteningly calm.
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“All available Pelican pilots, this is Commander Vale. The Notos has sustained a direct hit along the portside armor belt. Damage control reports no critical failures. Repeat, the ship is stable and not considered a threat to mission operations.”
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Outside, another explosion shook against the far side of the launch bay. The Pelican rocked on its landing struts.
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I stared at the smoke pouring through the open bay doors. “That doesn’t sound stable.”
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“Damage is contained,” Tedros said. “The commander is continuing.”
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“All Pelican pilots are to launch immediately and descend to Pandora. Ground forces are being deployed to secure the western approach and establish a defensive perimeter. Your orders are reconnaissance, fire support, and vehicle transport. Do not engage Covenant vessels unless fired upon. Repeat: all pilots are dispatched to Pandora. Launch window is now.”
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The transmission ended beneath a burst of static.
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For a moment, I could only hear my own breathing.
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Pandora hung beyond the launch bay, impossibly beautiful beneath the shadow of the Covenant vessel. Blue oceans circled around green continents, their edges bright beneath the blanket of the moon's atmosphere. It looked peaceful from up here. Stories of hostile environment and natives began to flood my brain.
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That was the worst part. The unknown.
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Tedros turned toward me. “Pip.”
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“I heard her.”
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“Your pulse is elevated.”
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“The ship was just shot.”
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“Technically, the ship sustained a hit.”
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I looked at him. “That is not helping.”
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His mouth twitched, almost a smile. “I was attempting to put it into perspective.”
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I let out a loud groan of annoyance. " Ugh! Tedros!
A Pelican tore past the cockpit, its engines flaring white as it launched into the void. Another followed close behind, then another. The pilots had stopped waiting for the smoke to clear. They were forcing their way through the chaos, dropping toward Pandora before the Covenant could close the bay entirely.
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A shape moved outside the windshield.
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The Covenant ship slid across the stars, vast and angular, its hull glowing with reflected shell of violet light. It did not fire again. It did not need to. Its presence alone seemed to press against the Notos, making the cruiser feel small and fragile beneath it.
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Oh no, are they going to attack?
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“Pip,” Tedros said, quieter now. “The launch bay doors are closing.”
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I shoved the throttle forward.
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NOBLE 16 lurched out of its restraints. The Pelican shot across the deck, skidding sideways as the damaged bay tilted beneath us. For one sickening second, the landing gear left the rails and we were weightless.
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Then the engines caught.
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The Pelican burst through the narrowing gap just as the bay doors slammed together behind us. Metal shrieked against metal. A shockwave rolled over the hull, tossing us into a spin.
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I gritted my teeth and pulled hard on the controls. The moon's view filled the windshield growing larger by the second.
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“Descent angle is too steep,” Tedros warned.
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“I know.”
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“Your current trajectory will result in—”
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“I know!”
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The moon’s atmosphere seized us.
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Fire spread across the windshield in a bright orange flash. Every loose object in the cockpit lifted from the floor and slammed against the rear bulkhead. The harness cut into my chest as the Pelican screamed through the upper atmosphere.
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For a few seconds, the stars vanished behind flame.
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Then the clouds opened.
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Pandora rushed up to meet us, vast and green and alive. I caught a glimpse of distant mountains piercing the cloud cover and a dark stretch of forest that seemed to go on forever. I would love to stay and admire the view, if only I wasn't being chased by alien forces that are itching to shoot me out of the sky.
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Below us, scattered points of light marked the first ground positions. Vehicles moved along the edge of the western approach, tiny against the landscape. Somewhere down there, soldiers were waiting for us to bring them supplies, ammunition, and a chance to survive the attack.
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Tedros’s voice crackled through the cockpit.
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“Pip, I’m detecting two energy signatures entering the atmosphere behind us.”
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I glanced at the rear display. Violet streaks tore through the clouds, descending fast.
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Banshees. The Covenant had followed us.
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Damn it.
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I tightened my grip on the controls and aimed NOBLE 16 towards the floating mountains, trying to lose them using the terrain of the alien planet.
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“Then we’d better get there first.”7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmAyWKexpUh
and then Add to home screen.