One hour later
It had been a hectic and busy hour since Eve's sudden appearance into the Cairo station main hanger. The Long sword fighter's remains had been disposed of and Eve had been taken to a holding room. Before Eve was taken to the holding room, Eve gave lord Hood Auto's data cord. Lord Hood then went back to the bridge to go through the data Auto had gathered.
"So, Auto," Hood said. "What happened to the Axiom?"
Auto's data cord had been placed into the bridge's control panel. His seven inch avatar form was coming out of a circle shaped hole near the edge of the control panel. On the holographic screen, a few inches in front of him, was an image of Halo.
"The Covenant chased us from Reach to this ring world called Halo," Auto explained. "Eve and John led a squad of soldiers onto the Covenant ship the Truth and Reconciliation. Theyrescued captain McCrea and a few other survivors. Me and Eve then went to Halo's control centre, but we discovered it contained this species called the Flood and it had the power to destroy all life in the universe, so we had to destroy the ring," Auto concluded.
"What about McCrea?" Hood asked.
"The Flood managed to kill him," Auto replied. "The Flood are no one's ally. They're like a parasitic race that spreads itself by overwhelming any form of sentient life and making the host one of their own. They managed to capture McCrea and were morphing him into one of them so Eve had no choice but to kill him," Hood sighed.
"The UNSC has lost one of It's greatest ships and one of It's best commanders," he said.
"We've lost more than that," Auto replied. "Hundreds more have been killed and one of them Sgt John."
"Actually, your wrong there," Hood told Auto. "John and about six other marines managed to escape this ring world on a pelican."
Auto sighed.
"Nine escape," he said. "But over six hundred more do not,"
Hood sighed. Auto was right. The loss of almost all of the Axiom's crew, along with the ship itself, was a deadly blow to the UNSC. But at least one of those nine had managed to obtain information on these new ring worlds. Then, Hood remembered something.
"Before we finish here, Auto," he said. "Who was with you and Eve?"
Auto went wide-eyed and looked up at lord Hood. Wally.
"There was no one with us," Auto said to Hood.
"That's strange," Hood replied. "Because one of the marines that survived was with Eve's squad when they were in one of the ring world's jungles. He said that he saw Eve get beamed to the top of this tower and then this figure appeared on the tower's roof with her. Then they both disappeared,"
"I'm telling the truth, sir," Auto said. "Me and Eve were the only ones who destroyed Halo. There was no one else."
Hood did not look convinced, but he could not force Auto to tell him. He would find out eventually.
