Surrounding the portside had to be nearly another score of the vessels. A cry from a faraway corner of the bay confirmed that the case was the same to the starboard. They were in the middle of some kind of flotilla. "I've seen ships like these before," a pilot spoke next to Tom. "They look like fishhooks. They're Jackals. Not the Covenant types though, they're [i]pirates[/i] apparently." Tom suppressed the humorous image of a rum-swigging swashbuckling alien Jackal, a five-foot birdlike hominid, and concentrated on the growing glow of the calm bright flash he had noted before. The ships around the [i]Everest[/i] were simultaneously engulfed in a sudden and powerful white burst of static. It was a slipspace rupture. They were jumping. The [i]Everest[/i] momentarily buckled before disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. The alien flotilla around it had created an enormous rupture in space, squeezing the larger cruiser alongside them through the hole that they had just created in the fabric of space-time. "We must have interrupted their jump. Great timing," the pilot snorted. He left towards a docked dropship. A calm female voice spoke softly, but with determination, over the COM in the hangar. It was the shipboard artificial intelligence. "Longsword pilots prepare to deploy upon re-entry and engage the Kig-Yar vessels." Cole's voice buzzed over the soft-spoken female in a blast of static: "You're our only shot at these guys. They won't be packing anything heavy but neither are we." [i]Kig-Yar[/i], or Jackals as the Marines coined them. The pilot had been correct in his observation. Jackals were nasty creatures, but certainly not the worst of the main Covenant races. Tom sighed with relief, these Jackals were rogue too; that would mean no back-up from any Covenant warships or armies. Tom slipped to the front of the dwindling crowd beside the viewport. It wouldn't be long now. The aliens could jump through slipspace nearly instantaneously--it was part of the reason the Covenant were winning the war. The hangar bay became a hub of activity as pilots loaded onto their attack craft--Longsword interceptors. Built like an oversized surface bomber, a Longsword packed missiles and nuclear warheads in its sleek black frame. They were primarily used against smaller Covenant craft in dogfights but would, perhaps, be able to take down a few of the Jackal ships. The [i]Everest [/i]tumbled out of slipspace well behind the alien flotilla that moved with purpose off towards the dark side of a large royal blue gas giant. The Everest's remaining engine turbine pumped steadily at irregular intervals, blasting the crippled giant slowly forward in a blind chase of the smaller alien ships. Tom held his helmet firmly to his head as he slid through the closing hangar doors into a darkened access corridor. Behind him the hangar exploded with the roar of engines. The hangar's gate crashed open and out flew the fighters noiselessly into space. Tom followed the bright light from a chamber across the hallway. There, he found Graves in one of the ship's many armouries. Graves toyed lightly with a pistol, waving it in his hand from side to side. A crowd had built up around the armoury's viewscreen panel. Everyone wanted to see the action. Someone yelled "Mop 'em up!" and the crowd cheered in response. On the screen, the Longswords took off at a blistering pace after the alien ships. Tom figured they didn't want to risk letting them regroup. The [i]Everest[/i] followed the scene steadily in tow. The Jackal flotilla passed into the shadow of the giant planet and disappeared with the Longswords closely behind. Tom listened intently as the COM buzzed with news from the engagement ahead. They'd taken out one, now two, of the stragglers. The Longswords were continuing pursuit to the planet's dark side. Reports of kills continued momentarily--three more ships destroyed. The fifteen or so fighters in the Longsword contingent were concentrating fire on the retreating ships. It would help level the playing field in any engagement the [i]Everest[/i] would have to make as it rounded the planet. Tom watched as the cruiser limped into orbit and slung clumsily around the planet's circumference. The COM had grown eerily quiet and Tom felt his stomach beginning to drop off into space behind him. He fixed his eyes on the viewscreen and squinted to make out the scene. "Jesus, what is that?" Graves coughed in awe. Tom's jaw grew slack as the [i]Everest[/i] slung around the planet into darkness. The Jackal flotilla had moved deep into the shadow of the planet and the Longswords had pulled off the pursuit. The fighters now lay floating weakly in front of the cruiser as it too began to brake. There in the gas giant's shadow, illuminated only by light reflected from its solid aquamarine interior, was a giant metallic ring suspended in orbit.