answers to reviewers questions or statements:
Drago - X6627: Yes and no, but Peter's inclusion will alter some key relationships in the franchise, one of them being Chief and Cortana's, to a degree.
Nomad98: The official harem will include Kat-B320, Miranda Keys, Linda-058, Natasha Romanoff, Felicia Hardy, Cortana and Sarah Palmer.
Echo Five: I think Thel was more torn up that so many of his fellow Sangheili warriors died a pointless death produced from a lie rather than a honorable one that would serve to help the ones that lived to reach Godhood via the Great Journey.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or Halo characters seen, mentioned or used.
Sixteen miles south of Szurdok Ridge, August 13, 2552 20:07 Hours...
"How in the hell did they manage to pull it off?" Peter said after near four hours of total silence amongst the Spartans.
They were currently making their way through the vast wilderness of Viery Territory in a single column in numerical order ironically enough, spaced out every five meters, their weapons spent and their armors covered in a fine layer of dust, grime and ash. They were all exhausted after sprinting down from Szurdok Ridge, pouring every bit of energy they had into staying ahead of the Covenant's glassing. A Pelican or Falcon couldn't be called in to pull them out yet thanks to the hundreds of Banshees the Super Carrier had launched after it all but annihilated the UNSC's forces in the region before it began to slowly rise into orbit and deal with the UNSC's own warships.
So until the Spartan fireteam could make it outside the Banshees' range of operation, they were walking back to whatever base in the region was still standing.
"Pull what off Six?" Kat asked, her voice tinged with exhaustion and annoyance, mainly the latter as she did her best to re-establish contact with Colonel Holland.
Which was proving to be a little hard given that her prosthetic arm was start lag thanks to the gradual build up of dust in it's servos, gears and seams.
"The Covenant Super Carrier, the big ship that's wiping it's behind with us..." Peter stated as he gestured in the vague direction they last saw the massive warship before entering the massive dust cloud that's emerged in light of the ship's localized glassing earlier that day.
It didn't help that dozens of Scarabs roaming the countryside, picking off remnant UNSC forces with their main energy cannons were slowly expanding it as they torched entire arches of land.
"How in the hell was that thing missed by our orbital defenses?!" Peter asked no one and everyone at the same time "Even if the ship was cloaked, using momentum instead of actual propulsion to move through space and approach the planet, which would've have to been a lot if it re-entered normal space from slipspace from beyond the system, the cloaking field would've failed after it began to enter the atmosphere and heat up"
"You ever get a chance, maybe you can ask them Noble Six" Kat said in a tired tone.
"He has a point though" Jorge said with a frown underneath his helmet "There's no way that ship could've gotten by our defenses undetected. Covenant stealth tech is good, better than our own by a longshot, but even a ship that massive couldn't slip by without someone seeing something"
"Maybe whoever was on watch that day fell asleep" Emile suggested with a grim chuckle "Wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened. Remember Camber? Covenant slipped right by without alerting a single person until they were raining down plasma on them, all because some asshole on one of the orbital platforms monitoring the system's early warning detection systems was taking a power nap"
"And the Covenant Commander was one of the better ones from what I hear" Jorge stated.
"A wheezing legion's worth of Grunts could've slipped by Camber's defenses and no one would've known" Jun added with a snort before he stepped to the side and glanced behind them and stared at something for a moment before speaking as he fell back into the column "Commander, I think we might have some less than friendly followers somewhere behind us"
"Six, can you confirm for Noble Three?" Carter asked as he looked back as well to see if he could spot something through the thick cloud of ash and dust.
He doubted he'd be able to, out of all of them, Jun's sensors were the most advance and possessed the farthest range.
"Visually no, but my motion tracker is picking up a FOE tag every once in a while at the very edge of it's range. The clogged air must be making it difficult to get a definitive read" Peter said as he glanced around as well, a faint tremor at the base of his skull warning him danger was near "Someone's out here with us. Could be more cloaked Brutes, or a lot of those space wormy things that nabbed me and Jun last night"
"Space wormy things?" Emile echoed with a scoff "The hell are space wormy things?"
"You know those worms that make up Hunters?" Peter said.
"Yeah- oh... those things" Emile said with a shake of his head "And just when I thought those damn things weren't disgusting enough"
"I'm just grateful we had our armor on when they decided to swarm us" Peter said with a mental shiver "I try not to think about how they'd feel on my actual skin"
"We're coming up on a rock formation, might be able to use it for cover and if we're still being followed, use it to either ambush whatever it is or let it pass" Carter said as he glanced at his TACPAD where it displayed a topographic map of the area he and his team were traveling through "Kat, how we doing on that link back to Holland?"
"Slow going" Kat said as she typed a few more commands into her datapad before pausing to brush a layer of accumulated dust that gathered on the screen "Hopefully once we get under some cover, might be able to speed things up a little"
With that goal in mind, the Spartans quickened their pace while Peter and Jun slowly fell behind and kept an eye on their six. Jun's sensors had stopped picking up whatever it was that was following them, but the flaring at the base of Peter's skull had yet to subside.
"Six, you picking up anything?" Jun asked as he did his best to peer through the thick cloud of dust and ash, his armor was picking up a large electromagnetic disturbance in the air, but couldn't pinpoint where.
"No, but I don't think we're out of the woods ye- HOLY SHIT!" Peter said as he nearly leaped back as a large mechanical leg suddenly emerged from the dust cloud and struck the ground only a few meters away from the two Spartans.
"COMMANDER, SCARAB!" Jun yelled as he and Peter broke into a run away from the massive Covenant war machine as more and more of it emerged from the dust cloud.
"Copy Noble, does it know we're here?" Carter responded over the team's comm channel as he and the rest of Noble broke off into another sprint towards the rock formation, he really hoped that it had some sort of cover in it, his people weren't equipped to take on a Scarab on their own as they were now now.
"Long as they don't look down, probably not" Jun said as he risked a glance back at the massive war machine as it charged up it's main cannon and fired off a beam in another direction from where the Spartans were traveling to.
Jun had no idea what it was shooting at, could've been nothing or it could've been a stray fireteam that somehow managed to outrun the Covenant, but either way, it was long gone by the time the Covenant Scarab's beam powered down.
"Must be looking for any UNSC forces that managed to escape their Super carrier" Kat said as she, Carter, Emile and Jorge had reached the rock formation and quickly discovered a small cave they could take shelter in.
Carter scanned the small geological feature for a moment before he signaled that the cavern was for the moment, safe for them to use. Emile and Jorge headed further in while Kat and Carter remained by the entrance to monitor Peter and Jun's approach. Thanks to the cave's slight elevation over the rest of the area, the two Spartans could make out the shadowed hulking masses of several other Scarabs in the distance, along with the sound of UNSC firearms discharging shortly before being silenced by the Scarab's energy cannons.
"They really don't want anyone to escape" Carter observed with a frown as he settled against the mouth of the cave while Kat returned to trying to re-establishing a link with UNSC command.
"Gotta give them credit for being thorough" Jorge said as he set down Erika and reached up to remove his helmet before letting out a cough "Hmm, more dust than oxygen in this air"
"Than put your helmet back on" Emile scoffed as he crouched in a darkened area of the small cave, his shotgun resting on his armor's back magnetic clamps.
"Helmet's filters are clogging up" Jorge held up his armor "Not much of a difference if I'm wearing this thing or not"
"Emile's just jealous Jorge" Peter said once he and Jun entered the cave and made their way towards the other two Spartans "Ugly bastard can't show his face without being mistaken for something a Brute would cough up-"
"Connection established!" Auntie Dot's voice rang through the Spartan's comm channel.
"Hey, we have Dot again" Peter said as he glanced in Kat's direction "Nice going Kitty Kat"
Kat made a 'hmm' sound as she continued to type in commands on her datapad while Carter stared off into the distance with an equally distant expression under his helmet.
"I am pleased to find that you are still operational Noble Team" Auntie Dot stated in a tone that seemed pleased "Our foes were more devious than we were led to believe. ONI has discovered that the mysterious shielded spires that were observed during the battle allowed the Covenant Super Carrier to remained cloak and distribute a large amount of Covenant war material to the surface in preparation for their invasion. Currently, the covenant Super Carrier has reached orbit and is engaging local UNSC ships, likely in preparation for the arrival of an even larger fleet"
"Question is, is the force coming simply re-enforcements, or the actual armada" Jorge said as he and the other Spartans all shared a look of concern.
"Thankfully, help is imminent. Sixty percent of the UNSC fleet is en-route to Reach from existing deployments. The first battle group should arrive within forty-eight hours" Dot revealed.
"Forty-eight hours?!" Jun scoffed as he removed his helmet and looked around at his fellow Spartans before he reached up to brush some embers off Jorge's shoulder pad "That's imminent?"
"For the Navy, yeah" Peter snorted as he sat down on a small boulder and let out a tired sigh, the events of the past day and a half finally catching up to him "Though I'm more curious as to what's coming our way. Don't have a lot of big ships anymore and the few we do have been pulled back to Earth for WHEN the Covenant find and hit it"
Nearly thirty years of war with the Covenant Navy had taken it's toll on the UNSC's, most of the fleet's heavy cruisers such as the Marathon class and Valiant class heavy cruisers had been destroyed during the sieges of the Outer Colonies and what few remained had been re-assigned to the Sol System with perhaps one or two being stationed at Reach. The Epoch, Orion, and Punic-class carriers and what Battleship analogs left were in a similar situation. The only ships of the line that the UNSC still had a abundance in were Frigates and Destroyers, ships that struggled against some of the Covenant's smallest warships!
"There's the Trafalgar" Jun commented as he ran a hand over his shaved head "She's the biggest ship we got in the UNSC, and she can hold her own reasonably well against the likes of some of the Covenant's larger vessels"
"But against a Super Carrier?" Peter pointed a finger towards the cave's ceiling "That thing will reduce her, and her entire escort, to a smoldering pile of drifting metal in one volley of it's plasma torpedoes"
"He's gotta a point there" Jorge said with a tired sigh as he tossed his helmet back and forth in his hands for a moment before he noticed Carter and Kat were still by the cave's entrance, talking.
"Wonder if their thinking the same thing" Peter said as he followed Jorge's gaze, along with Jun and Emile.
"Who's your money on?" Jun shoulder bumped Jorge with a slight grin as he nodded towards the duo.
"Her" Jorge said without any hesitation, causing Jun to scowl at the man.
"You always pick her" he accused.
"She's always had him dialed in" Jorge said.
"I think the proper term is whipped" Emile snorted with a shake of his head as they quieted down and listened to the two's conversation.
"...backing up a graveyard!" Kat said with a frustrated shake of her head.
"All our nukes are either out-system or went down with the ships that carried them" Carter said in a grim tone "You're preaching to the converted"
Kat stopped for a moment and glanced outside for a moment before she returned her attention back to Carter "How converted?"
"I know that tone Kat" Carter said with a look of exasperation under his helmet.
Kat grinned beneath her's "You can so no-"
"No"
"You don't even want to hear it?" Kat asked.
Carter stared at his second in command for a few seconds before he gave a reluctant nod "Fine... I'll hear it"
Kat nodded, pleased "Remember that accident a couple years back? Colony ship en route to Cygnus. Seven hundred dead?"
"Vaguely" Carter said with a shrug "A slipspace drive malfunction, right?"
"Actually, it worked fine" Kat revealed "The drive was mounted improperly after a service haul-out. When it fired, it... teleported half the ship to oblivion"
"And this is relevant...how?" Carter asked, a bit confused on where Kat was going with this.
What, were the Covenant about to have their carrier undergo a service haul out of it's own and she wanted to sabotage it? Be it a bit late by that point he thinks...
A sly grin began to form on Kat's face that even hidden behind her helmet could still be heard in her voice "A certain Covenant supercarrier could, with some assistance, suffer the same unfortunate accident..."
Carter frowned at this, still confused by what Kat meant before it finally clicked in his sleep deprived mind.
The Spartan couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head at Kat's sheer audacity "Even for you, Kat, that's-"
"Inspired?" Kat finished with a grin.
"Not the word I would use" Carter responded as the rest of Noble Team approached.
"So what's the word sir?" Peter asked as he glanced back and forth between Carter and Kat.
"Go ahead Kat... explain" Carter gestured to the rest of the team.
Kat nodded and turned towards Emile, who had come to stand next to her and reached for his kukri before the Spartan's hand grabbed her own.
"May I?" she asked.
Emile stared at her for a moment before he slowly released his grip on her "Don't cut yourself"
Kat nodded and withdrew the knife from it's sheath before she crouched down on the ground and began to carve a rough sketch of Reach along with a 'X' that marked the Covenant carrier.
"Objective? Destroy Covenant Carrier in geosynchronous orbit above us" Kat said.
"I love how you say that with the same tone as someone telling me the weather" Peter said with a shake of his head.
"This sanctioned, sir?" Jorge glanced at Carter with a raised brow, taking on a Covenant Super Carrier was the mother of all tall orders, even for Spartans.
"What do you think?" Carter asked.
Jorge was quiet for a moment before he said "Oh"
"Method? A slipspace drive in lieu of the nukes we don't have. Delivery system? Us. Solvable? Getting us up there. That, and getting our hands on a slipspace drive. Though I'm sure there's bund to be a few up in orbit that the UNSC won't need anymore" Kat explained the outline of her plan as she stood up and brushed some of the dirt and ash on Emile's knife before she handed it back to Emile, handle first "Thank you for sharing"
"So... All we need is orbit-capable transport, and the single most expensive piece of equipment made by man" Carter finished with a shake of his head before he glanced at the rest of Noble "Any of you happen to have a slipspace drive I don't know about and a way into space?"
"We could try one of the Space elevators. Some of the spaceports planet side have them, can get out slipspace drive while we're there" Jun suggested.
"But than how do we get it to the carrier?" Emile asked as he pointed towards the rough drawing on the floor "Push it the rest of the way and hope it'll get close enough to set off?"
"We'll use the Sabres" Kat revealed, causing everyone to look at her.
"Sabres?" Carter said with a frown, he didn't recognize the name, or term "What's that?"
"Advance next generation fighters with a highly experimental energy shield system based off of our armor's own" Kat said as she stared right at Peter with a knowing grin under he helmet "In 2549, an Insurrectionist cell calling itself the Jade Syndicate had hijacked a cargo freighter carrying several of the experimental craft en-route to Reach from Mars, so ONI sent SOMEONE to hijack it back via piloting..."
Peter did his best to not squirm under Kat's gaze as the rest of Noble Team followed her's and stared at Peter.
"Six?" Carter said with a raised brow under his helmet.
"It... it wasn't just me" Peter said as he adverted his gaze from the questioning ones of the Noble "How'd you find out about that anyway?"
"Considering Blue and Red Teams were slated to retrieve those fighters before being mysteriously pulled off of it, I was... curious" Kat said with a smirk in her voice.
"Bad Kitty Kat!" Peter chided the other woman "No cream for you when we get back to base"
"Oh god that sounded just wrong" Emile shook his head.
"Good, I'm not a big fan of cream from a pussy" Kat responded.
"Damn" Jun said with a laugh as he patted Peter's shoulder "Need a medic for that one? Or do we save ourselves the trouble and just list you as MIA?"
"You know, it's times like these where I envy my days of being a lone wolf" Peter grumbled as Carter sat up from his position along the cave's wall and took Kat's datapad.
"There's no way in hell he's going to okay this" Carter said with a shake of his head as he established a secure link to Colonel Holland and give him a rundown of Kat's plan.
"These Sabres, how they handle?" Jorge glanced Peter.
"Ehh good I guess" Peter said with a shrug "Mine crashed though. Well more of it hit something that crashed into me"
"That's... reassuring" Jorge said with a sigh before he glanced at Emile and Jun "Either of you two willing to-"
"No" they both said in unison.
"In my defense, I was getting shot at by Insurrectionists with heat sinking rockets!" Peter said in defense to his... crash.
Well that and he assumed the fighter worked like a Longsword... turned out it didn't. And it's acceleration was a bitch and a half, and the steering was a bit jerky.
"If a bunch of rebels with rockets caused you to crash, do I want to know what the Covenant can make you do?" Jorge asked with a laugh, causing Peter to scowl at him.
"Your no longer my second best friend on this team" Peter said before turning to Jun and smiling "Congratulations Jun, your my-"
"Pass" Jun said dryly.
"Heh, this time he's asking for it" Emile snickered before he and the rest of Noble saw Carter's shoulders slump, or as much as they could in full armor, before he turned back towards them and spoke in the blankest tone they've ever heard from him.
"He okayed it"
Kat smirked in satisfaction "Sometimes my plans are just too good to say no to"
"Pretty sure if half the people that okayed your Ops actually had to go on them, they'd be more willing to say no" Peter said, causing Kat to scowl at him which in turn caused him to raise his hands in defense "Hey, the last Op I went on that you ran I was practically mugged by a gang of Brutes and had to share a cell with Jun"
"And I had to share one with you and a Grunt" Jun gave Peter a brief side glance "If anything, I'm the one that got screwed the most on that Op"
"Jun, your no longer my second best friend" Peter snapped.
"wait, if Jorge and Jun were the second, who was the first?" Emile asked before he gave Peter an annoyed look "It's not me is it?"
"You? Pfft, of course not" Peter said with a scoff as he pointed to himself "It's the voices I hear in my head at night"
"Good luck Spartan" Carter patted Jorge's shoulder, causing the larger Spartan to heave a sigh.
"Thank you sir"
...
Thel 'Vadamee narrowed his eyes as he sat within his quarters and analyzed Lydus's actions against the human's forces via a hologrpahic projection, transmitted from a few drones that Lydus's forces deployed when they arrived in system. He's taken more losses than he was comfortable with, having lost several Corvettes along with thousands of troops, but so far his remaining ships, including the Long Night of Solace, were holding their own and inflicting heavy casualties on the human world's defense fleet.
He supposed it was to be expected, while Lydus was one of Thel's best commanders, his talents rested more in ground based operations than naval.
'And I know that Supreme Commander Rho 'Barutamee is likely offering less than sound tactical advice... if any at all' Thel thought with a frown in regards to the lower standing Supreme Commander's actions.
He knew appointing Lydus command over him would cause tension and likely resentment, but Thel had reviewed his fellow Sangheili's actions and tactics throughout the war and found him to be less than ideal to lead the vanguard of his invasion. Numerous times in the past Rho had blatantly ignored the humans attempts to exploit any weaknesses his fleets and ships had and while they did little to change the outcome of the battle, this was not something Thel could afford for this campaign. Simulations have shown that he'll be taking heavy casualties in the coming battle, if from nothing else, the sheer number of human warships and orbital defenses in the system.
And that was before he even considered the damages the humans nuclear mines could do.
'Perhaps I can request Blades from the Silent Shadow to kill off the human's leadership' Thel considered thoughtfully as he glanced at projected images of what Lydus has told him were the human's highest ranking commanders on the planet at the moment.
Normally the Silent Shadow, who answered directly to the Hierarchs, were used to remove high ranking Covenant commanders when they proved to be a... liability. On other occasions, oversee the extraction of highly valuable relics of the Forerunners or even worse, prevent the humans from desecrating them with their unclean hands.
With a heavy sigh, Thel returned his attention to the datapad that displayed another strategy he was formulating that could allow him to use the human's high volume of ships and orbital stations to his advantage. He had received a report earlier that his fleet had received a new warship, The Cleansing Horizon's Strike, a newly forged battleship that the Assembly Forges in High Charity produced. It was fitted with a new configuration of energy projectors, all Forerunner in origin and empowered further by Forerunner shrine cores, that the Forgemasters wanted to test. If what Thel has read about the ship's capabilities was correct, it'll allow the warship to target and destroy the human's ships from well outside their orbital defenses weapons range.
'Hmm, perhaps if I hold the bulk of my fleet in reserve along the edges of the human's systems and send the Horizon ahead with a small security force, it could lighten their defenses enough to commit my fleet's full strength. Or perhaps I can force the humans to leave the safety of their platforms ranges and pick them off' Thel thought with a hum before he received a message from one of his guards outside.
Curious, Thel answered the hail, he had ordered the Shipmaster of his vessel to allow no disturbances for the evening unless something truly dire had arisen.
"What is it?" Thel asked.
"Supreme Commander, I apologize for this interruption, but there is one here that wishes to speak with you" the guard outside the room responded before they paused only to continue "And only you"
"I see... allow me a moment to make myself presentable" Thel's eyes narrowed slightly, his mind racing through possibilities on this unexpected guest's identity.
For a brief moment, he thought it could be the Silent Shadow, here to 'remove' him from his post before he shook his head to clear such thoughts from his mind. The Hierarchs would not assassinate a commander on the eve of his departure to what was sure to be a pivotal battle in the war against the humans. At least, Thel doesn't believe they'd do such a thing unless they were very certain his successor would be even more adequate for this campaign than he, and the only one that Thel could think of that could be was the Imperial Admiral, Xytan 'Jar Wattinree.
With a click of his mandibles, Thel stood up and quickly donned the top portion of his combat harness, though he opted to leave his equally purple colored cloak off, his armor's design was more than adequate in displaying his rank and he felt he left whoever was outside waiting long enough. Once the armor's harness was properly secured to his tech suit, his energy sword clamped to his hip and his shields were activated and functioning properly, Thel ordered the guards outside to allow this mystery visitor into his quarters.
Safe to say, not even the appearance of one of the Hierarchs could leave him more shocked than the figure that stepped across the threshold of his quarters and presented themselves.
It was a San'Shyuum, there was no mistaking that, but it was unlike any San'Shyuum he's ever seen before in his life. For one, rather than sitting upon a Gravity Throne, this San'Shyuum was walking about under their own power, though Thel wondered if it was perhaps the form fitting, highly advance, and fully sealed deep purple power armor they were wearing that offered some form of aid.
Thel's eyes trailed across the armored San'Shyuum before they came to a rest upon the dark blue polarized visor covering their face.
"Greetings... esteemed one" Thel said, unsure exactly of what rank or position this San'Shyuum held, and thus settled for a simple honorific and a bow "You honor me with your presence. Had I known it was you that wished to speak with me, I wouldn't have made you wait so long"
Though perhaps he may have been placing too much importance upon this unknown San'Shyuum, as a Upper Supreme Commander, the only San'Shyuum that held any authority over him were either members of the High Council, the Hierarchs themselves, or a Prophet acting on behalf of the Hierarchs and thus spoke with their authority in the event of the discovery or encounter of an object of great importance to the Covenant's faith.
"It is of no trouble Supreme Commander, I'm aware that it is late and your Shipmaster was VERY adamant that you were not to be disturbed as you were planning for the battle ahead" the San'Shyuum said with a bow of their own, their voice while electronically altered to a degree, carried the unmistakable tint of a female.
Thel's eyes blinked at this revelation, female San'Shyuum almost never left High Charity unless under the highest levels of security, regardless of their rank or position.
"I... I'm pleased to not have offended you. But rest assure, it will never happen again" Thel said slowly as he tried to remember the proper way to converse with a female San'Shyuum, while also mentally reminding himself to speak to his Shipmaster in regards to why he wasn't informed of this individual's arrival.
A lone female San'Shyuum being so far from High Charity without an obvious escort was more than reason enough to disturb him!
"Forgive me Supreme Commander, it seems I have forgotten my manners" the San'Shyuum said as she rose from her bow and her faceplate depolarized, revealing a hauntingly beautiful individual "I am Prelate Yalar Mron, of the Ministry of Tranquility"
Thel's eyes widened at the word 'Prelate', he has heard the stories of Prelates, San'Shyuum who underwent biological and genetic augmentations that in turn made them superior to their fellow San'Shyuum and placed them on par with the more physically adept races such as the Sangheili and Jiralhanae. But in all of his years of service to the Covenant he's never actually seen one, to his knowledge at least.
"Prelate..." Thel said after a few moments, his mind trying to find a apt way to address the female before him "May I ask what brings you to my ship?"
"It is in regards to the human world you have recently discovered and are preparing to invade" Prelate Mron revealed as she nodded towards the projection behind Thel "Our scholars have recently translated a series of scriptures left behind that indicate a artifact of great importance was left beneath this world's surface. I have been chosen to oversee it's retrieval if it is in fact there"
"It must be significant if a Prelate has been sent" Thel noted, normally the likes of the Silent Shadow would've sufficed, but for a Prelate to be chosen instead...
"Forgive me Supreme Commander, but if I may be so bold, I dare say this artifact may be second to the majesty of Halo itself and bring us far closer to the Great Journey than any other discovery made up until this point" Prelate Mron revealed, causing Thel's mandibles to part slightly in shock, to make such a proclamation was no laughing manner.
If there truly was something of that importance buried within the human world, than this campaign will have even greater and far more reaching effects than he can scarcely believe. It also meant he'll have to rethink his current strategy, burning the world to absolute ash will not do, the relic which this Prelate was to retrieve could be destroyed or damaged beyond salvation as a result of the fleet's cleansing of humanity.
And than, he'll most certainty receive a visit from the Silent Blade.
A lethal one.
...
And done.
Next chapter, Operation UPPERCUT begins...