The ones who are Pilots. You never see them. Its assumed that the elites and brutes fly, but do we really know that?

yeah, i have put some thought into new covenant races. I havent had any yet, as you all definately noticed, although i still am questioning using one. with the different factions of the covenant, and the humans, and the future of the story with the ark, i don't think a new race will be necessary. but i myself would like to see one or two additions to the halo universe, and therefore am instituting a anytime suggestion box for those of you who may come up with any ideas on the subject. and even though there aren't any new covenant at the moment, there is at least one that i will use undoubtedly, although i cannot mention it now. and there will be new flood forms based on the other covenant creatures, ie: drones, grunts, etc. and you'll see some sweet sentinal like machines from the ark itself...the rest is to be written.

I only have tommorrow and next week. So much left unsaid, so much left undone...

Wow! this is great. Im going to mirror it soon and keep it updated so you can print it, or read offline, or read it at school if, like me, you have a district that likes to block ANYTHING even remotly fun(violence has nothing to do with it)

Same i still have a good 2 weeks left. Cant wait for more. That chapter was sad, but all the characters are still alive

daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn great chapter(s) Brilliant. havn't posted in a while but i have been reading it the minute you posted it, and i gotta say again, daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn keep it up! P.S. school does finish in like two -blam!- weeks!!! FUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!! -blam!- SCHOOL AND EVERYTHING IN IT!!! (excuse my french)

well i cant wait to read the next chapter, oh and SIR today was MY last day of school!!!!

sorry guys, double post. Laptop is screwed up. [Edited on 6/2/2005]

Yep, that was a good chapter. Oooh, that Col. Ackerson is an S.O.B. He would sacrifice all those UNSC personnel just to destroy the Covenant forces in the immediate area. I hope he gets what's coming to him. Keep up the good work Sir. Brilliant.

Wow, haven't posted in a while. Great Job Sir. Keep it up Just wondering, do you plan on introducing any new races? A new member to join the covenant? A new forerunner mostricity? Maybe a new side in the war altogether? Cuz that would be the coolest thing ever. It would make it more of a fanfic though...

:)

i was just looking around and thinking, and i realized that my school is over in just 3 weeks, or, more specifically, 2 and 2 days. this is friggin awesome, especially since i hope to write much more over summer. That got me to thinking about the next chapter, and when it will be out, or at least when you can expect it. I believe that another saturday allnighter will occur, and i'll make sure the next chapter is done by then. Looking through my story on word, i just realized that its 98 pages. all i could think was wow. i started in december, and only 6 month's brought that much, and i've been busy with school, sports, etc. all i could think was, imagine if there wasn't anything else. but then again, there's always something else...xbl, tv, you name it, i get screwed up by it. whatever, thats life.

great chapter SB, really well written. I liked all of the plot twists in this chapter.

great chapter 4005 every fanfic i'm reading is going into a suspenseful moment and it's pissing me off.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] EAGLES5 [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] hellmunky Disregarding everything everyone has said about the subject of the survival of a black hole, I'd like to point out a few things. 1. There is no physical evidense of a black hole (Just looked it up. They have some evidense using radio waves). 2. The elements we have now are numbered 1-112 and 114. And 61, 93-112 and 114 are all man made, radioactive materials with a half-life. 3. Current scientist only expect to get to number 118. 4. This is all 500 years into the future. 5. A material that only bonds to itself well, such as the 'noble' gases, is emensly strong (either that or very weak). 6. All the man made elements had to made with a partical accelorater, that sped the atoms at near the speed of light. 7. All radioactive have a half-life. The more protons the shorter it is. The shortest is .24 milaseconds. That's numbedr 114. If it was number 274 it would be around .0000000000000000000000001. Conclusion: There is not enough evidense to support any of the proposed theories and/or hypothesis's. My Conclusion (speculation): Not enough evidese but, listen to this. If it was a real black hole (if they exist), he would most likey not survive. But then again we are talking about the Forerunners here. We all know they have vastly supierior technologie than either race. I'm guessing that they made an artifical black hole that could be deactivated to reveal the structure. Most likely not but maybe possible.[/quote] Like u said this is 500 years fron now, alot could happen. U have to have an open mind, especially for Science Fiction[/quote] You also have to consider most of these elements are non existant in earth, but they do exist in space. Besides, the forerunners definitively had to have particle accelerators or things of the ilk.I'm no chemistry whiz, so I may be wrong. But I may be not. Danbertus Maximus

well, not everyone died. but i won't go any farther than that...

Great job SIR!!!! i loved that chapter, keep em' coming!!!! (# 4002..........dangnt!!!)

Hey my bad with the nanotech stuff. What I was trying to say is that all the current man-mad elements are made with a particle accelerator that speeds the chosen atoms at near the speed of light. They collide and [i] BOOM [/i] new atoms or another existing man made one are created. By the way great chapter. 4001 :-) [Edited on 6/1/2005]

post 4000

Great chapters Brilliant. It wasn't the UNSC's doing in was ONI Eagles5.

GREAT CHAPTER!!!!! very sad, everyone died! I saw it com ing though the second they were ordered into the same spot. The UNSC has some messed up tactics. I cant wait to figure out what the ship is. May be good covies, may be a new human ship.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] hellmunky What I meant about the things being man made is this. All th elements from 110 (I think that's right) are manmade. I was saying that all the next elements have to be manmade. I was talking about something entirely different from naotechnology. Nanotech is little machines, not the atoms that make them. Because look at this an atom cannot be divided in 2 because it is the smallest it could be. A nanotech machine would be made up of atoms. Plus an atom = an element. An element is just a type of atom i.e. Hydrogen, Helium, and Lithium.[/quote] You didn't get me:) nanotech is not little machines... that's what most people think though... nanotech is any technology that deals with measurements in 1*10^(-9) till 1*10^(-12)... mostly it's used to put small parts of atom together... but another posibillity is to recreate atomes... to move them around... make them react to eachother in new ways... who knows, maybe physically forcing to materials together could create a new... noonw knows but a lot of scientist are trying to figure it out... of course it's years away... none of us will live to see it... but it is possible for us to discover a lot of new atoms... a lot of them actually... also just by travelling in space which nanotech will also help make easier... of course we would not be able to use most of the new materials at all, but they would still be there... so far the manmade atoms have had little to none useabilities(grammar/speling??), but heck... that might change too...

Nice chapter, Sir. I especially liked the part where Hood saves the Private. That shows that every live matters, even for a Admiral. I found the destruction of the Cairo was unexpected. I liked it! Keep writing good chapters! [Edited on 6/1/2005]

Everyone rushed to their work, and Helstrum did something he thought his wife promised him not to do: think. It always got him in trouble with her, and she simply wanted to solve that problem. What could knock out all of the systems aboard this station so easily, yet keep it perfectly intact? Well, an EMP blast could do that, but I don’t see how that could have happened. And if it did, only things on would be affected, so chances are that the comm. won’t work. “Sir, the comm.’s not working. All I’m getting is static.” Figures. That’s why she never wanted me to think. I was always right. “Ok, we probably got hit by an EMP blast, but I don’t have any clue how that may have happened. When you guys finish up with my bird, hit the escape pods. They’ll work. And keep the flashlight.” “Sir, we’re all prep’d up. But the blast doors are closed. You’ll have to break through them, or you won’t be able to leave.” “Don’t worry about us. We’ll figure it out. Just get to those escape pods.” The five marines on the ground stood straight and saluted Helstrum, and he returned it graciously. They ran off and he started his Ulysses, giving it a full systems check. “Computer, are there any malfunctions or possible system errors preventing full power?” “Negative. Vessel fully operational.” Good. Whatever blew out the lights left us intact. Putting on his headset, Helstrum flicked a switch to activate it on his team’s designated frequency. “Hey kid, you ready to get outta here?” “Sure thing boss. But what about Jan? The blast probably wiped out her systems as well.” Damnit! “We can’t leave her behind. These fighters all have a distress beacon that activates when any system failures occur. I’ll go and pick her up while you use the grapple to hold her ship in place. Then…we’ll figure out the rest from there. Now take off and follow my lead.” Scrambling off the ground and grabbing the stick, Helstrum veered his ship up and to the left, towards the fighter launch bay. Flying too fast and barely missing the walls, he switched on the ship’s lights, only to find the blast doors a couple hundred meters in front of him. He pulled the trigger and let loose a barrage of missiles, and increased his speed. They flew in front of him and exploded on impact, making smoke appear then disappear into the blackness of space, along with his ship. Reaching the vacuum, his radar showed one red light, blinking in and out of existence. He increased his speed and Sach followed, not falling a step behind. Jan’s ship came into view, Sach flew ahead and connected his grapple to her ship from the top while Helstrum flew underneath and initiated a connection of the two vessels. The computer’s robotic voice came through his headset. “Connection in three, two, one, ships connected. Transfer of personnel and equipment will be possible momentarily. Please stand by.” He waited for a moment, then a green light blinked on his HUD, and the top of the cockpit opened hard before he could even reach for it. Her head peered through. “Took you long enough, sir. With all due respect.” “Of course. Now get in the co-pilot seat and set all the warheads to detonate on impact. We’ll have Sach steer your best friend into the biggest Covenant ship we can find, and get it within their shields. That way, we won’t waste any good firepower we have.” “Umm, sir, without being able to steer that thing, we won’t have the time or ability to bring it inside any capital ship and have enough time to get out. Maybe we should leave it for later?” “Yes, that sounds like a plan. Sach, you hear all that?” “Yes sir, dropping off this baby now. I’m reading an energy spike in that Covenant ship at 243 by 184. Their firing at the Cairo!” “Damn! Full engines! Let’s beat them to the punch!” “Norman,” Jan said, covering her mike, “we won’t have time. If their firing now, the Cairo’s a goner. There’s no need to give away our positions or jeopardize our mission by flying in blind.” I hate it when that woman’s right. Damn, too many lives lost already. Now this… “Alright, let’s take it nice and slow. We’ll leave the ship here and come back for it when we’re out of ammo. In the meantime, let’s get over to the battle. Jan, what’s the situation with the fleet?” “Scanning…sir, I think there’s a malfunction with your systems. I read no operational UNSC stations or ships at all. Just us and Sach.” “Wait, you can see Sach on your scan?” “Yeah, it’s weird. I don’t get what’s wrong with this thing. Maybe it’s cause we’re so close to him.” “No, its worse than that. The EMP blast that shut off all your systems must have reached the entire fleet as well. That means that there could be hundreds, maybe even thousands of people stranded out here in space, just waiting to be zapped by those Covie bastards.” “I don’t think so, sir.” “What? What are you talking about?” “Sir, look at nine ‘o clock, right at the Earth’s edge. Do you see it?” Squinting as hard as he good, the Commander looked at the Earth, seeing the faint blue sky from his angle, and seeing a strange object, quite large if he could see it from this distance, coming out from behind the Earth. “Sir, it’s showing as a UNSC ship. But we have no records of it anywhere.” “Well I’ll be damned. I don’t care if I can’t see it, or even if I don’t know how big it is or what it looks like; as long as there are Humans in there, we’re in business. Let’s move out! We don’t want to keep our prey waiting.”

Section after section of escape pod areas had already been used up, and yet he was still aboard, and no idea of the next section clouded his mind. Franticly looking towards his last location and the still unexplored regions of the huge station, a moaning caught his attention, pulling him to it. Several marines lay under heavy debris, one of them making the sound while more lay unconscious or dead. “Are you alright? Let me get this off of you.” Pulling with all the strength he had, Hood found that he lacked it, and turned to find some tool to help maneuver around this obstacle. A large metal pole, apparently from the broken pillar only a few meters away, lay quietly and content with the universe, but the Admiral felt otherwise. Using the pole as a lever, Hood heaved the large block off of the moaning marine, a low ranked private, but he only saw the life still within the person. This was no time for prejudice; not on any level. He’d save that for another day, maybe another person. The private looked up at him, then tried to get up, but failed and fell back to the cold hard ground. Grabbing his arm and slinging it over his shoulder, the Admiral stood and began walking in a direction, anything away from where he’d been and hopefully towards salvation. “Escape shuttles…three blocks…left…code 841.” Hood stopped for a single moment, thinking to tell the badly hurt marine to stay quiet, to conserve her energy, and to keep living. But he thought better, knowing that anything she would say would not be in vain. There were already too many situations he’d seen where the final words, or possible final words, were shut out to ‘help’ the person, yet it was a waste. In this case, it had saved his life. Taking no time to congratulate his own philosophy, Hood walked as quickly as possible to the place ordained by the marine, graciously thanking God that she was light, or at least lighter than he’d expected. Several escape pods were released from their stations by faster officers ahead of him, all too involved with their own problems to help him with his own. He decided against blaming them, as their youth prevented them from such thoughts, and a lack of training and thought allowed for the such. Coming up on the deck, he looked through the blast doors of each escape pod, only seeing the remains of them floating outside or the empty space of the departed. The third one in the row was still there, and he punched in the code, which, thankfully enough still worked. It seemed that Ackerson wasn’t as coldhearted as he presumed: he shut down the escape pod’s subsystems before the nukes went off to make sure they’d be able to escape. The thoughtfulness didn’t appeal to the Admiral, who quickly opened the blast doors and went inside, laying the marine on the closest seat and sitting in the pilot’s chair. The console was foreign, but after scrutinizing it briefly, he made clear to the onboard systems that departure was necessary, and it took off, leaving the station. The destination to be set was both a trivial and vital matter to attend to, and he simply set the navigation to autopilot the pod until it would reach Earth’s atmosphere to land at New Mombasa, where the Cairo was stationed over, and where the first Covenant strike for attacked. He reminded himself that it was all but destroyed, and looked for the next best landing spot, confirming it into the computer’s database. Turning the swivel chair around, Lord Hood went over to the marine, who breathed heavily, yet seemed to be conscious. “Where are you hurt?” She placed her left hand over her ribs, probably meaning a few were broken, to say the least. Internal bleeding was a possibility, but there were no medical supplies available, as they’d been stripped bare for other equipment, which was still not onboard. “Try to stay still. When we land, I’ll get you to the finest hospital around, and you’ll be back killing those Covenant bastards before you can argue with me about it.” Barely opening her eyes, she let out a brief smile, and then her head leaned to the left sharply, falling on her shoulder. Checking her pulse proved she was still alive, only exhausted and asleep from the excessive strain on her body. The station, visible through the screen on the pilot’s HUD through the aft cameras showed the giant station quietly drifting through space, and then erupting with a pulse of purple light, yet it refused to fade. The light stayed until the station was nothing more than floating rubble, with only a view of the massive Covenant vessels closing in on Earth. At that point, the same ship that destroyed the Cairo jostled violently, as though hit by a mallet its own size. It continued to do so until it simply exploded, yet with the dark of space in the background, no sense could be made of the situation. “Computer, identify vessel that destroyed the Covenant cruiser in sector 42.” “Scanning…unknown classification, unknown alliance. No information available.” What the hell? He continued to watch the screen, hoping to get a glimpse of whatever was now fighting the Covenant, to see what could possibly be helping the UNSC fleet in its most dire moment. But the autopilot prevented it, and began its descent into the Earth’s atmosphere. Damn, I wish I knew what that was. Sitting back in the command seat, he typed on the console as fast as he could; prepping the escape pod for emergency landing into an atmospheric environment was no easy task. ****** Staring down at the private refueling his ship, Helstrum couldn’t help but wonder what the hell was going on out there. He’s been inside the Cairo for only 20 minutes, and yet every second out of battle, or at least space, was a lost moment. There were so many personnel running back and forth in a frenzy that he could only guess the situation was bad, if not terrible. But the Cairo was still operational, and for the moment, that’s all that really mattered. “Hey commander, I’m prep’d up and ready!” Jan yelled from across the large yet empty fighter bay. The sound traveled very well without the normal resistance of hundreds of voices and at least 10 other fighters in the bay. It surprised them both. “Ok, get out there, but don’t stray too far from the barn. We’ll be done before you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” He almost laughed when the acoustics in the room allowed him to hear her whispering it, trying to get the phrase right. My favorite practical joke, and yet nobody’s been able to use it against me yet. Looking back down at the private, he hollered, “when’s this puppy gonna be up and running?” “Just give it another five, sir. The ordinance will be here before then.” The given conditions led to an awkward silence, a period where nobody knew what to say, yet the void of sound seemed to require a voice, some savior from it. But it remained, momentarily disrupted by the engines and take-off from Jan’s ship, then came again, this time seeming worse than before. Twiddling his fingers wasn’t cutting it. “So…heard anything from the front?” “Nope, not yet.” “Got any friends fighting out there?” “Doesn’t everybody?” The guy apparently didn’t want to talk, just wanted to do his job and get it over with. “How’s your mother doing?” “Sir, I’d appreciate it if you let me do my job.” Helstrum didn’t press the issue. Maybe his mother’s dead. That would kill the conversation better than any nuke I’ve used today. The ordinance rolled in on a huge rolling cart, pushed by two more marines, both without any rank or insignia. At this point, he didn’t care to let them know, as they weren’t exactly in the best position to be taking his crap. Especially since they were the ones holding every bullet and nuke he’d take back to the battle with him. One of the marines tripped and the entire stock of munitions began to tip over, with the nukes on top. One started to slip off, but the fallen marine managed to grab his post and bring it back to normal before anything could fall. “Hey, be careful with that! If your not, this whole station’s gonna be very empty, very fast.” “Ye-yes sir!” Quickly fixing the problem, they hurried to load the weapons into his Ulysses, and he simply began tapping on the hull of it. Tapping louder and louder, he could see the marine refueling it was becoming annoyed, yet also would not comment on the incident. This gave Helstrum a small joy, although he realized only shortly after that he was becoming annoyed to, and stopped. “Yo, commander, when you gonna get done!” yelled Sach from his own fighter craft across the bay. “Any minute now…” staring down at the marines, who gave back a look, telling him that they heard and were working on it. “If you’re ready, get out there and take some down for me!” “I dunno, I got a bad feeling about this. Something doesn’t feel right. You know what I mean?” “No, I don’t know what you mean. Now get your ass back out there and make me proud!” “Aww, c’mon sir, I’ll just wait for you to finish.” Helstrum raised his index finger, like that of a father punishing his son. “Boy, don’t give me none of your lip!” Just as he finished yelling, the lights suddenly flickered off, and the fuel stopped pumping. The entire bay was completely black and now quiet too. Helstrum reached in his cockpit and pulled out a flashlight, shining it at his refit team. “What the hell! How did the lights go out? Doesn’t this station have backup generators?” “Yes sir, it does. I don’t know what’s wrong.” “I’m guessing the fuel pump is dead. Ok, take my flashlight and finish getting that ammo in there. I’m not leaving here until I have those, and I’m leaving in two minutes. Sach, warm up your bird and get on the comm. Find out what’s goin on.”

Chapter 20 Staring out into the intense battle before his eyes, Admiral Hood turned to his officers, all sitting at their stations, typing away commands into their consoles. His eyes didn’t hold the same light they did when he entered the battle, his optimism leaving, hope fading. “What is our status compared to the Covenant armada?” “Sir, they outnumber us about…they have six ships for every five of ours. It’s much closer than Cortana originally predicted. We may be able to tip that balance soon.” Very optimistic, but unrealistic. The chances to do that fall with every ship we lose. They continue to send boarding parties to Earth and to the orbital stations as well. How we’ve managed to stay in orbit, I can only guess. But soon they will overpower this station, and the others, and the fleet will have no backup. With the number left now, it’s only a matter of hours until they do. The lack of sleep and old age had caught up threefold on his face, almost looking like a wrinkled dog’s face. But nothing but death would shake him from the intense focus he had while looking at the tactical display, showing the entire space battle on the simple two dimensional board. He searched for a way to bring victory to his people, but with the larger number of Covenant vessels there, it simply seemed impossible. They were outgunned, outmanned, and outclassed. And even if they did win, what about the next armada? Surely the Covenant had more vessels to attack with, as they had one this size destroyed at the Unyielding Hierophant, and there must have been more. This fight might be in vain. That thought repeated over and over in his head, when his lieutenant’s voice brought him back to reality. “ONI central is requesting that you give all command over to them immediately, and they will eliminate the threat now. I don’t know what they mean, but I’m not getting any more intel on it.” What are they up to? If I refuse to agree, they can’t do anything, not now. But what can I do? Maybe they have a solution, but they are hiding it. Is it worth the risk? “Ok, they have full authority over the operation, clearance alpha gamma epsilon 369. But I want to be immediately told in any changes with the fight out there. Understood? “Yes sir. Sending message now.” The Cairo fired another round, the huge ball of depleted uranium traveling at a fourth the speed of light. The thought of it traveling so fast took his mind off the battle for a moment, a moment desperately needed now. According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the mass of the projectile increased significantly due to the huge velocity, as did the momentum, and thus, the damage. Not only that, but it appeared smaller to anyone watching it, making the target unaware of how truly powerful the blast was. A direct hit was almost a sure fire guarantee that the target was to be obliterated, or at least not leave the battle without a huge hole in it. “Admiral, encoded messages are being sent through to all allied vessels. It says to bring all Covenant forces as close to sectors 21, 24 and 27.” “Sectors 21, 24 and 27? Nothing is in those sectors. Why would they-” The admiral’s brow scrunched closed, his eyes looking from side to side as though to find the answer. Sectors 21, 24 and 27 were placed off limits during battle preparations. That means that they put something there, waiting for the battle to turn ugly, and ONI would come in and save the day. But the only thing that could work would be…“-Order all ships to avoid those areas immediately! There are nuclear weapons there, and all those ships will be damaged or disabled!” “Sir, we’re being jammed! No communications can be sent.” “What? From where?” “Scanning…sir, it’s coming from within the Cairo.” A look of anger warped the admiral’s face, as he walked with heavy-set fists through the control panel. The line-up of officers continued to work, typing away strenuously to solve whatever problems they were dealing with. All but one. Picking up his pace, Hood came to the man’s console, seeing a dark screen. The officer sat cross armed, obviously waiting for the Admiral to find him. “I order you to get rid of that jammer immediately!” “I’m afraid he can’t do that admiral”, a voice spoke through the speakers on the control. The familiarity and coolness of it alarmed Hood, and only a single thought came through his head, as his teeth gritted and the other officers stared and watched. His face appeared on the screen as it lit up, a smile across his face sent a chill down Hood’s spine. That smile was frightening, constant through every word, never wavering, as though to seem pleasant. But there was more to that look, something hidden, something making this man in complete control of the situation “Colonel James Ackerson.” “I’m glad I haven’t been forgotten, even that’s what I’m sure you’ve really wanted for quite some time now. Isn’t that correct?” His voice stayed calm and steady, never wavering from its coolness. It heated up the admiral, unable to keep calm himself with complete control, but safe for the time being. “Ackerson, you will not get my fleet destroyed. Not on my watch.” “I’m sorry admiral, but my hands are tied. You gave over all your command functions over to me just a minute ago. And I’m simply working for the best interest of human society. I would suggest that you and your crew leave that station while you still have a chance. It will be difficult without any systems functioning.” “When I get my hands on you, I’ll-” “Don’t worry, you won’t. Chances are that I’ll be considered a huge war hero from my bravery while you are forgotten, honorably discharged, and moved to some remote estate where nobody will ever find you. You should be thanking me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a war to win.” “Ackerson!” But it was too late, the screen died, killing the image of Ackerson’s stupid grin from the space station, possibly for the last time. A headache brewed within the admiral’s head as he ran into overdrive, thinking of anything that would solve this problem. Anything that could help in any way, but nothing came to him. As though a brick wall had been placed in front of his thoughts, it allowed him no insight to save his fleet, and threatened to tumble onto him. “I want a way to contact the fleet, and I want it now! If we don’t warn them, most of the fleet will be gone, and the rest of it will be immobile from the EMP blast, including this station.” But it was no use. The tactical display showed the fleet doing just as they were ordered, collecting a large portion of themselves and the Covenant vessels into those sectors. They were almost full, those sectors crawling with more ships per square kilometer than he’d ever seen before. That’s when it struck. A huge blast ripped through those vessels, tearing through Covenant and Human alike. It blew away every atom of their hulls like dust in the wind, disintegrating every trace of metal and flesh. Only the large explosion was visible, and only for a moment before anyone looking could not watch any longer, for the intensity of the blast was brighter than the sun. The admiral covered his eyes with his arm, yet still tried to watch. The futile attempt only led to a momentary blindness and disorientation, and the universe disappeared for a moment. Then the shockwave came at the Cairo, shaking it violently, and all electronic devices died without a trace, no way to repair it so quickly. This meant every single system aboard the Cairo was gone, including life support and possibly the backup generators, which may have been on due to the damage received. “Do we have any power left?” “I’m not sure sir. And even if there was, turning on the equipment might spend it.” “Fine, I’m ordering the evacuation of this station. We’re sitting ducks up here without any power, and it’ll take a week and an entire crew to fix her, and we don’t have that kind of time. Everyone get to the evacuation pods, and if you find any other personnel, inform them to do the same. There’s not much we can do now.” He looked back where the three explosions took place, and something reflected from it into the corner of his eye. Squinting as best he could, the Admiral made out his worst nightmare: Covenant battle cruisers, still intact and now moving out of that sector. Oh hell, without any more ships to defend, they’ve got a straight shot at Earth! The ships grew larger, and his eyes widened when he saw why. “Covenant ships on attack vector, heading straight for us! Get the hell out of here now!” The bridge filled with panic, all officers now crazed in search of some way to sustain themselves. But Lord Hood had no time to ponder this, as he himself was caught in the frenzy, running towards the closest known escape pod sector available. The pearl white halls and small and seemingly insignificant call sign’s of each hall- and walkway flew past his old eyes as another streak of color among the vast reach of pure white, seen in all directions. Each escape pod in the immediate area had already been launched or destroyed, and the admiral ran towards the next section, his heart pounding like never before. Stopping was the only thought in mind, yet he could not and did not. Each second wasted was another second for the Covenant to rid of more Humans, he thought. More Humans that would fight back take a life or more, never give in. Yet his heart pounded his chest as though ready to escape, and run itself to the escape pod instead of its host body. The thought almost brought a smile to his face, but no effort was made in the direction of humor, only of life, and sustaining it.