Chapter 2

The U.N.S.C. ships Deathrod and Armageddon entered Slipspace in pursuit of the Covenant ships that had torn through their fleet so viciously, seemingly searching for something in unknown space. Admiral Marcus Harvey of the U.N.S.C. Demonstrator, along with the remainder of its crew, was forced to erase all data from the mainframe and evacuate the ship. The crew split up into the two remaining ships while the Admiral boarded the Deathrod.

As the three ship's commanding officers discussed their current circumstances, the Deathrod's A.I. Shan, picked up an unidentifiable ship that had recently dropped out of Slipspace. It had been heading in the opposite direction before it stopped; from the middle of unchartered space.

Shan had a female form and wore a worn out, blue, checked, button-up shirt and faded brown cargo pants. She had an Australian accent, was very humorous and had a knack for talking a lot.

Shan appeared from her small pad near the main view screen and briefed the three commanding officers of the anomaly. It was decided that the Armageddon would continue on with its present course, while the Deathrod would go back to investigate the unidentified ship.

X

The crew of the Battleship Halberd was in the bridge, discussing the situation at hand. They had not been aware of the existence of a fleet of ships that dwarfed even the Halberd in size; however they had just been passed by exactly that. No one had been able to identify where the ships had come from, but they did know one thing, they were headed straight for Pop Star.

While his loyal followers bounced ideas across the bridge, Meta Knight, commander of the Halberd silently considered their options. They had no real objective out here, in the middle of nowhere; their only reason for being out here was that they had wanted to check that the reactor was in top shape for deep space travel. There hadn't been much in the way of trouble lately, so the ship hadn't been put through any real tests, although it had proved itself more than capable. If the strange fleet of ships meant trouble for Pop Star, it was their duty to give chase.

When Meta Knight voiced this conclusion, the rest of them agreed. He was about to give the order to turn around when two more ships passed by. They were headed after the first group, but didn't seem to be a part of it; the difference in appearances made that obvious.

The Halberd was about to head off as well, when one of the ships came back.

X

The unidentifiable ship came into view of the Deathrod's bridge. Pascoe had seen nothing like this before. He was astounded by the ship that sat in front of them. It didn't look like the Covenant, nor did the U.N.S.C. own anything like this.

The shape of its body looked like a cross between an old aircraft carrier and a bowling pin on its side. The ship was primarily grey, it had a purple undercarriage and the same colour was used for two pairs of wings further towards the back of the ship. These wings looked like they had no place on a star ship; rather they looked like they belonged to a very large bat. Both sides of the vessel were lined with single barrelled machine guns, like the cannons on a pirate ship. On the deck it had a large weapon with two parts; the top section looked like it fired something big, maybe even an actual cannonball. It was impossible to tell what the lower, base section fired. Next to it was a long, extendable arm with a large three digit claw on the end of it.

"Admiral Harvey, we should make contact," Pascoe stated.

"We should wait and see what they do first," the Admiral replied, without hesitation.

"But if we wait, they could either leave or blow us to bits, we should try to contact them," Pascoe protested.

"May I interrupt?" Shan appeared from her pad in front of the two. "I agree with Commander Samuel, sir. If we don't make the first move, they might do it, and their move may not be quite as negotiable as ours."

"Fine, open up a communication line," Harvey compromised. "If they don't respond in a positive manner we need to be ready."

"Right, Shan get everyone prepped for battle and bring weapons systems online. Try to open a link with that other ship," Pascoe ordered.

"Yes sir, Commander."

X

"Sor meh nigh, der kin contact," informed a green armoured crew member at the console.

"Thank you Blade, let us hear what they have to say," Meta Knight replied. Blade opened the communication link at their end, allowing the occupants of the other ship to speak.

"This is Commander Samuel T. Pascoe, commanding officer of the U.N.S.C. Deathrod," the speaker blared. "Please identify yourself and your intentions or we will be forced to consider you hostile." The crew looked around the room to each other, taking in what this Commander had to say.

"They mustn't be hostile, if they're askin' us," determined a taller, turquoise one, "Although the 'Deathrod' does sound pretty sinister."

"It would not be wise to come to that conclusion, Sword." Meta Knight cautioned, "That might depend upon our answer," He nodded to Captain Vul, "Which we had better do."

"Right away, Sir," Vul acknowledged and pressed the controls that would allow him to speak back to the other ship.

X

"Sir, they're responding," Shan spoke up, much to the relief of the bridge.

"Patch 'em through," Pascoe requested.

"Yes sir," She said as she disappeared into her pad to fulfil his request.

The voice coming from the other ship sounded rather up himself, "Well, I'm Captain Vul, and this is the Battleship Halberd." Pascoe could have sworn that the voice belonged to a parrot, "We intend to uncover the plot of all these strange ships on their way to Pop Star."

The two commanding officers shared a glance before Pascoe asked the all-important question, "So, Captain Vul, you're not a part of the Covenant?"

"Covenant of what? We are the great Meta-Knights of Dreamland."

It was relieving to know that the ship in front of them claimed to have nothing to do with the Covenant, although it was surprising, if not doubtful, that they had never heard of it.

Harvey thought this was a 'likely' story, "This is Admiral Marcus Harvey. You mean to tell me that you've never heard of those alien bastards who nearly wiped out humanity, on multiple occasions?" He was one of the few who still hadn't warmed up to the idea of joining forces with the Elites; he didn't trust anyone not of the human race.

X

"What's Humanity?" an orange, spherical little creature wearing a sailor hat inquired.

"Do you think they're hostile now?" a small, pitchfork wielding knight asked the bridge, looking pointedly at Vul.

"Well then you tell me what this 'Covenant' is, I got no idea," Vul retorted.

"I think we need to sort this out," Meta Knight settled, "We need to understand all of what's going on here because it looks like we're going to become a part of it. We need to meet in person."