Chapter 322 — Preparations
The briefing ended, but the preparations did not.
Across Cascade, the order to prepare for battle spread rapidly.
Personnel who had only just stepped off transport shuttles were redirected toward their assigned vessels. Officers were given hurried orientations on systems they had never encountered before. Engineers moved between decks carrying tablets and diagnostic equipment, trying to familiarize themselves with unfamiliar reactors, shield controls, and weapon systems before they were expected to take them into combat.
The timing could not have been worse.
The supply convoys had finally arrived.
The personnel had finally arrived.
The materials humanity had spent days waiting for finally reached Cascade.
And now, before most of it could even be properly distributed, another Covenant fleet was coming.
Above the planet, another ship slowly emerged from the Fabrication Complex.
Its hull was still warm from the fabrication process, its systems coming online one after another as the automated systems completed their final checks.
It joined the growing fleet without ceremony.
Thirty-two.
Then another ship followed.
Thirty-three.
The number continued to climb.
No one celebrated anymore.
There was simply too much to do.
Inside the newly commissioned UNSC Halcyon's Reach, Captain Elena Reyes stared at the displays in front of her.
She had been aboard the ship for barely a day.
Yet already, she was being expected to take it into battle.
Reyes had commanded UNSC vessels before.
She understood how to operate a warship.
Navigation. Weapons. Communications. Power distribution.
Those were familiar.
This ship was not.
The reactor readings alone were strange enough. The numbers barely moved, even with the ship's systems active.
The shield interface was something entirely new.
Even the weapons systems required unfamiliar procedures.
Cross stood at the operations station beside her, studying one of the displays with a frown.
"I still don't like this."
Reyes glanced at him.
"The ship?"
"The fact that we've had less than a day to learn it."
Reyes couldn't disagree.
They had experienced officers, but experience could only cover so much. A completely new class of warship could take weeks or months to properly understand.
They had eighteen hours.
"Captain."
A young engineering officer approached them.
"JARVIS is requesting control authorization."
Reyes looked toward the central display.
The request was already waiting.
She remembered the briefing.
The AIs would take control of the ship until the crews could fully familiarize themselves with the new vessels. But they hadn't had time, none of them had fully familiarized themselves, and now they were going to be fighting the Covenant. So the AIs would take control.
"How much control?" Reyes asked.
The ensign checked his tablet.
"Primary navigation, power distribution, weapons coordination, sensor management, shield regulation, and damage-control systems."
Reyes raised an eyebrow.
"That's practically the whole ship."
"That's what I thought too, Captain."
Reyes looked around the bridge.
Several officers were still studying their consoles, trying to figure out functions they had never used before.
She finally nodded.
"Grant it."
The ensign entered the authorization.
The displays changed almost immediately.
Information that had previously been spread across multiple screens was reorganized into a single, clearer tactical layout.
Power.
Shields.
Weapons.
Sensors.
Navigation.
The ship's systems began synchronizing automatically.
The reactor adjusted its output.
The shield generators came online.
The point-defense systems completed their calibration.
Reyes watched the changes with a mixture of fascination and unease.
Then a calm voice came through the bridge speakers.
"JARVIS online."
Reyes looked toward the main display.
"JARVIS."
"Captain Reyes."
She glanced at the tactical display.
"How much control do you have?"
"Primary navigation, power distribution, weapons coordination, sensor management, shield regulation, damage-control systems, and communications."
Reyes paused.
"Anything you don't control?"
There was a brief silence.
"Your decisions."
Cross looked away, hiding a smile.
Reyes allowed herself one as well.
"Good answer."
She looked back at the displays.
"How many ships are connected?"
"Thirty-three vessels are currently integrated into the fleet network."
Reyes glanced toward Cross.
Thirty-three.
And that number was still rising.
"Can you operate all of them?"
"JARVIS and Cortana are sharing the computational workload through the Fabrication Complex's dedicated computational facility."
Reyes nodded.
So that was how the AIs intended to solve the problem.
They were not replacing the crews.
They were giving them enough assistance to keep the ships effective while everyone learned.
"Show me the ship's current status."
The display changed.
The reactor was stable.
The shields were fully operational.
Weapons were ready.
Sensors were active.
Reyes studied the information.
"It says the reactor is only running at thirty-eight percent."
"Correct."
"With shields and weapons online?"
"Correct."
Cross looked over.
"That's not normal."
"It is for this vessel," JARVIS replied.
Reyes almost laughed.
Almost.
"All right. Shields."
A three-dimensional model of Halcyon's Reach appeared on the display, surrounded by a faint blue field.
"The shielding is integrated throughout the hull," JARVIS explained. "Energy allocation is adjusted according to damage, threat assessment, and the location of critical systems."
The section around the reactor brightened.
"So it can move power around the shield?"
"Automatically."
Reyes nodded slowly.
That was something UNSC ships had never been able to do.
"What about weapons?"
The display changed again.
The main gun appeared first.
Then the secondary batteries.
A faint blue-green glow traveled through them.
"Secondary batteries are equipped with charged plasma capacitors."
Reyes recognized the description from the engineering briefing.
"Covenant technology."
"Correct."
Cross stared at the display.
"So we're really putting Covenant weapons on our ships."
"We are," Reyes said.
She looked toward the viewport.
It was still strange to think about.
Humanity had spent decades running from Covenant weapons.
Now some of those same technologies were being turned against them.
"Point defense?" Reyes asked.
"Integrated with the ship's targeting network."
A simulation appeared.
Several incoming targets moved across the display.
The point-defense guns tracked them automatically.
"That's fast," Cross muttered.
JARVIS gave the firing solution before the simulated targets even reached the ship.
"Estimated interception probability: ninety-eight point seven percent."
Cross stared at him.
"Remind me never to fight with the AI."
One of the bridge officers laughed quietly.
The tension that had been hanging over the bridge eased slightly.
Reyes looked around at her crew.
They were still new to the ship.
Still uncertain.
But they were beginning to understand it.
That mattered.
"We don't have enough time to master everything," she said.
The bridge quieted.
"But we have enough time to learn what we need."
She looked at JARVIS.
"You assist us."
"Understood."
"But the crew remains in command."
"Of course."
Reyes nodded.
Then she turned toward Cross.
"Get everyone through the basic systems. Reactor, shields, weapons, navigation."
Cross nodded.
"On it."
The crew returned to work.
For the first time since she had stepped aboard Halcyon's Reach, Reyes felt some of the uncertainty begin to fade.
The ship was still unfamiliar.
But it no longer felt impossible.
Outside the viewport, another ship emerged from the Fabrication Complex.
Thirty-four.
The fleet continued to grow.
Across the fleet, similar conversations were taking place.
JARVIS and Cortana were being connected to ships one after another, their processing loads distributed through the computational facility within the Fabrication Complex.
The facility had never been built for this purpose.
Its true function remained what it had always been: managing the enormous calculations required to operate the Complex itself.
Every component.
Every fabrication sequence.
Every material movement.
Every assembly process.
Millions of calculations occurring continuously so that a starship could emerge from raw materials as a complete vessel.
Compared to that, assisting thirty-odd ships was manageable.
The computational facility handled the additional workload without difficulty.
Cortana quickly began establishing connections with the newer vessels.
"Thirty-three ships connected," she reported.
Tony watched the data streams from one of the control terminals.
"How's the processing load?"
"Nominal."
Tony nodded.
"Good."
Halsey stood beside him, watching the fleet telemetry.
"You realize we're asking newly arrived crews to take unfamiliar ships into battle against a Covenant fleet that outnumbers them."
Tony glanced at her.
"I know."
Halsey raised an eyebrow.
"And you're smiling."
Tony's gaze remained fixed on the fleet display.
"I'm optimistic."
"Against those odds?"
"I've learned not to judge a fight by the numbers alone."
Halsey studied him for a moment.
"You know something."
Tony chuckled softly.
"Let's just say humanity has a few advantages the Covenant doesn't know about."
Halsey waited for him to elaborate.
He didn't.
Instead, he continued watching the thousands of personnel moving through the orbital docks.
Deep down, Tony knew that if everything truly went wrong, if the fleet broke, if Cascade fell, if humanity stood on the edge of annihilation, there was still one final card that had yet to be played.
A card so overwhelming that even thinking about it made the coming battle seem a little less daunting.
Hopefully, it would never be needed.
Elsewhere, the Spartans were gathered once again.
John stood in the center of the training chamber, his armored hands clenched into fists.
He raised one arm.
Will gathered beneath the surface, flowing through his body before settling around his gauntlet.
Armament Haki.
It was still new to him.
Still unfamiliar.
But it was there.
Fred watched him carefully.
"How does it feel?"
John opened and closed his hand.
"Different."
Kelly tilted her head.
"That's descriptive."
John ignored her.
"It feels like another layer."
He looked at his fist.
"Not armor exactly."
Linda folded her arms.
"Can you keep it active?"
"For a while."
"How long?"
John's expression tightened.
"Not sure."
That answer did not satisfy Fred.
But nobody expected perfection after only just awakening it.
Gaius had warned them that Haki required experience, not merely awakening.
John was the first among them to cross that threshold.
The others were still approaching it.
Naruto sat nearby, watching.
He had been practicing Observation Haki, trying to feel the movements around him before they happened.
His eyes remained closed.
Saeko walked around him slowly.
"Again."
Naruto sighed.
"I know."
"You didn't sense me."
"I almost did."
"Almost doesn't count."
Naruto opened one eye.
"You're enjoying this."
Saeko smiled.
"A little."
Hyper Awareness functioned like an omnidirectional sensor, feeding Saeko a constant stream of information about her surroundings and her own body.
Every sound, vibration, shift in airflow, and movement registered in her mind.
With that awareness came control. She knew exactly how much noise she was making and how to reduce it, making her movements far more difficult to detect than most people's.
Which was why Naruto kept failing to sense her.
Nearby, Diana stood with Tanya.
Tanya had been watching the training for several minutes.
"Do you think they'll be ready?"
Diana knew exactly who she meant.
"Ready enough."
Tanya looked toward the ceiling.
"That's not particularly reassuring."
Diana smiled.
"It's war. Nothing is."
Tanya crossed her arms.
That answer, at least, she understood.
She looked toward the orbital display mounted along the wall.
"This is different from fighting on the ground."
Diana glanced at her.
Tanya continued.
"On the ground, you have terrain. Cover. Distances you can judge with your eyes. Here?"
She pointed toward the stars.
"Nothing."
Diana nodded.
Tanya's expression became more serious.
"One mistake in space isn't a broken leg."
She paused.
"It's death."
Diana remained silent for a moment.
For most people, Tanya was absolutely right.
Vacuum, radiation, debris, and the sheer distances involved made space utterly unforgiving.
Diana herself could survive dangers that would kill ordinary humans, but the same could not be said for the men and women preparing aboard the fleet.
"You're right," Diana said.
Tanya looked back toward the others.
"So we adapt."
Far beyond Cascade, the Covenant fleet continued its approach.
Forty-one vessels.
The formation had been assembled with purpose.
Two massive warships held the center of the formation, surrounded by escorts, support vessels, and troop carriers.
Inside one of those ships, Covenant officers studied the intelligence being transmitted to them.
The reports had changed.
The first information they had received had described Cascade as a human installation.
Defended.
But insignificant.
That assessment no longer held.
"Thirty-three vessels confirmed in orbit."
A Sangheili officer stared at the tactical display.
"Thirty-three?"
"Confirmed."
Another officer stepped forward.
"Those ships are unlike the vessels encountered in previous human engagements."
Images appeared.
Shield signatures.
Weapon signatures.
Energy readings.
A third officer studied the data carefully.
"These are not standard human vessels."
"No."
The room fell silent.
"Where did they obtain such technology?"
No one answered.
The question remained unanswered.
The Covenant continued forward.
Whatever had happened at Cascade, they now understood one thing.
This war with humanity would be different from before.
Back on Cascade, Gaius stood upon a massive metal platform.
Watching from nearby were Halsey, Tony Stark, and several others, while Admiral Parangosky and Serin Osman appeared as holograms.
Nobody spoke.
They were all here for the same reason.
Gaius had finally decided to reveal the reinforcements he had mentioned.
Gaius looked at them briefly.
Then he raised a hand.
With a simple swipe, golden light erupted before him.
Countless particles appeared out of nowhere, as if reality itself had been torn open.
One figure appeared.
Then another.
Then another.
Four towering Space Marines emerged from the light.
Among them stood Lieutenant Metaurus.
And Lieutenant Titus.
The light continued to gather.
A much larger silhouette began to take shape.
Massive armored limbs formed from the golden particles.
A Dreadnought.
Halsey instinctively took a step back.
Even Parangosky and Osman looked surprised. Parangosky herself showed a rare hint of emotion. Had they not been holograms, they might have stepped back as well.
After all, seeing a gigantic machine of steel, as large as a building, appear out of thin air was not something one witnessed every day.
And none of them had expected the Dreadnought to be that big.
A woman clad in dark armor.
Silent.
Motionless.
Yet her mere presence caused unease to spread throughout the hangar.
Halsey's eyes narrowed.
She immediately sensed that something was different about the woman.
The golden light faded.
Four Primaris Space Marines.
One Dreadnought.
One Sister of Silence.
Six reinforcements stood in front Gaius.
~~~
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