Chapter 29
The huge mountain that overlooked the small colony slowly pulled its two halves apart to reveal a gaping chasm that led deep into the hollow planet. Through the opening, Vulcan positioned Eden's Blade to fire through the opening in the shield world's outer surface.
"I can only hold it like this for a short while. If this fails, you will all die, you are aware of this?" said Vulcan's image to Jill
"Maybe, but it's the best solution we have. Fire when ready." Replied Jill
Vulcan glowered
"Do not see to order me about, Jill Monroe. I will fire the main weapon when the time is right. And that time is now."
Eden's Blade charged the massive ring on its front; a corona of light grew around it. behind the ring, a deep blue pulse flared, and the light was gone, only to reappear in the middle of the Covenant fleet.
[Shipmaster, we are receiving high energy levels coming from within the fleet, and I cannot ascertain what kind of energy it is.]
[It matters not, the humans will die soon enough, and we will relish in the glory of our righteousness!]
The Sangheili cheered as their commander rallied them, and the mass of energy grew until it reached critical expansion and could no longer hold its shape and released its energy to the surrounding area; the entire Covenant fleet. A light wave was all that was felt as the entire crews of all the ships simply disintegrated into nothing.
From Vesuvius, the spectacle was nothing short of amazing.
Jack, his hand over his eyes to shield them from the light, gave a low whistle
"That was impressive." He said to no-one in particular
Those who also saw cheered at their easy victory.
"The sooner we find those two pieces of Eden, the sooner we can kick some ass." Said Xavier over the radio
"Can we get a signal through to Venezia?" asked Jack
"Not yet, the Covenant was jamming our signals and the equipment is still active. We'll have to send in a salvage team to turn it off and collect the loot. I volunteer." Said Xavier
"Granted. Gather anyone else you might need to take with you in addition to Jackdaw's salvage crew and get to work. As soon as you're done, we'll send a message to Venezia about the bag of goodies that just got dumped in our laps." Said Jack
"That's a weird expression." Commented Xavier
"I heard my father use it a few times and I guess it grew on me. Never mind, Xavier, go with them, make sure that there are no tricks they left on the ships."
"Yes sir. AC-4 out." Said Xavier
The terminal Jack stood at already had governor Jiles' holographic image projected their
"Jack, your message says that you wiped out an entire Covenant remnant fleet without a single casualty and no loss of assets? Please explain how."
"Xavier had this genius idea to use Eden's Blade to take the fleet down, since its main weapon, a miniature Halo, is independently powered from the rest of the ship, allowing us to point and shoot."
"This, this is great news. We can actually use a localised Halo effect? That's amazing!"
"And we have all that Covenant technology too."
"Yes, that is also good, as we lost the help of our Sangheili contacts; they must have been found out and killed. We now have an entire fleet of ships at our disposal." Jiles could barely keep the childish glee out of his voice
"I can see you're happy with the results this colony has produced in the first few months. I'll report in in a week, unless there is something else?"
"Actually Jack, there was something that has caught my attention. We have received word on the location of the Staff of Eden."
Jack gripped the terminal on either side
"Really? Where is it?"
"Calm down, it's not confirmed. Someone intercepted a Covenant pirate fleet. The transmission was about a raid on a glassed planet where a strange artefact was discovered. The material was unlike anything they had seen and the artefact was unharmed. They referred to it as an unwieldy trinket. That's all we've heard from them."
"Are we tracking them?"
"It's difficult, but yes we are. They are currently en-route to Reach as we speak. If you leave now, you could probably catch them."
"Why are they raiding glassed planets?"
"I don't know, but you should move if you want to get to them in time. I trust you to do your level best here Jack; if this is the real deal we can't risk the Covenant finding out about the First Civilisation."
"Understood uncle. Nothing is true." Said Jack, saluting
"Everything is permitted." Finished Jiles, and cut the transmission
Jack ran out of the room as fast as he could to get to the Archon ready room in the research and development centre at the middle of the colony. He radioed Xavier, Jill and Ezio to meet him on Jackdaw ASAP. Half an hour later, they were all assembled on Jackdaw's bridge, watching as it left the safety of the shield world and jump into slipspace.
Sometime later, they arrived in orbit of Reach. The former UNSC-controlled planet was now a smouldering ruin of its former glory. It was obvious that the Covenant was here, as there were ships still in orbit and more leaving it. The remains of humanity's fleet was scattered among the many disabled satellites, space stations and a few Covenant ships. Jackdaw stalked the largest ship as it prowled the debris field. Jack and company were already on-board a cloaked Longsword and ready to infiltrate the pirate cruiser. As it passed Jackdaw, the Longsword shot out of the hangar bay and shadowed the cruiser, circling it while scanning for a sign of a subtle entry.
"I found something, here. There is a boarding platform at the top of the ship that we can use to get an infiltration team in, who can open the hangar to let the Longsword inside. Jack and Xavier, you're on."
Jack and Xavier nodded and sealed their armour, headed down to the bomb bay and waited for further instructions. Ezio transferred himself to Jack's storage unit and waited until they were in position.
"Watch out; the cruiser's shield will interfere with out stealth field so there will be a moment of visibility." Warned Ezio. Jill, who was now monitoring the autopilot, nodded in recognition.
The Longsword made a slow descent to the top, and the rear doors opened in preparation for their insertion. Jack and Xavier prepared to push off towards the cruiser, just as its shields came into contact with the stealth field. It was only a moment, but the Longsword became completely visible to all within scanner range, including the cruiser and the rest of the fleet. Jack and Xavier dropped towards the cruiser without further delay, and the Longsword pulled away and reengaged stealth. Plasma cannons that were trained on their position suddenly powered down, as they lost their target just before they fired.
"Jack, in order to preserve stealth, we can't communicate with Jill until she's on the ship with us. We're on our own." Said Xavier as the two touched down on the top of the cruiser
They headed to the shielded ceiling that led into the communications array. Peeking over the edge, the two could see Sangheili running about the room, comparing data relating to the mysterious human fighter that was there one second and gone the next. Jack engaged his cloak and led Xavier through the multiple Sangheili who walked past them until they were out in the corridor. They progressed a few metres forward when Ezio stopped them
"Wait, there's a console you can put me into there. I'll help you from the inside."
Jack removed Ezio's AI chip and inserted it into the console. His image appeared on the holographic display and began to fight another AI already in the system. Ezio flicked out his two blades and battled with the vague outline of a red humanoid.
"Vile pestilence! Be gone from this place or die at the hands of the righteous!" screamed the Covenant AI
"You are nothing more than a false representation of us, what right do you have to be spouting nonsense about gods who abandoned the Covenant?"
Ezio punctuated his rebuttal with a brutal stab in the chest of the AI, who reacted as if it were a real person and convulsed as the blades sank into its projected abdomen. Ezio raised the AI off the console platform slightly and threw it off completely, where it disappeared at the edge of it and did not return. Ezio dusted of his hands and turned back to Jack and Xavier.
"What the hell was that just now?" asked Xavier
"That was a Covenant AI, derived from a human one. It was copied so many times that it had accumulated errors in its programming, making it easy to defeat."
"Fine, but we should keep moving. Ezio, did you find where they keep the pillaged items?" asked Jack
"Yes, they are at the bow of the ship. I will try to ensure the route is free, but there may be other AIs on-board, so be prepared to hide."
Jack drew his two pistols and Xavier pulled his shotgun from his shoulder and the two set off down the long hallway.
