Chapter 290: Chapter 288 — Preparations
Chapter 288 — Preparations
The night passed quickly.
By the time morning arrived, everyone had already made their decision.
Now it was time to act.
Tony headed toward the workshop early that morning.
The threat of a Covenant attack had changed everything.
There was no longer time for leisurely research.
Every hour mattered.
Every improvement they could make before the Covenant arrived could mean the difference between survival and destruction.
And if there was one person in Cascade who could keep up with his pace intellectually, it was Dr. Catherine Halsey.
Tony was not someone who handed out praise easily.
His standards were absurdly high.
Yet after working alongside her for more than a month, even he had to admit it.
Halsey was brilliant.
One of the smartest people he had ever met.
So, while Tony made his way to the workshop to begin discussing the next phase of Cascade’s defenses with Halsey...
Elsewhere inside the residence, Gaius had already gathered everyone.
The giant Ultramarine stood before them.
This time, he wasn’t wearing his armor.
Instead, he wore simple dark clothing.
Yet despite that, his presence remained overwhelming.
Gaius looked across the room.
Then he said simply,
"We have work to do."
Everyone’s expressions became serious.
Gaius reached for his communicator.
He placed it on the table.
A moment later, Commander Osman’s hologram appeared above it.
The commander looked slightly surprised to see everyone gathered.
"Gaius."
Gaius gave a small nod.
"Commander."
Osman glanced around the room.
"I assume this call is related to the Covenant situation."
"Correct."
Gaius answered immediately.
Then he got straight to the point.
"I need authority."
Osman’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"Authority?"
"Military authority over Cascade’s defense preparations."
The room became quiet.
Even Marcus looked toward Gaius.
Osman studied him for several seconds.
"You want operational control?"
"Not political control."
Gaius clarified.
"Military control."
"I need the ability to coordinate defensive construction, evacuation zones, logistics, and deployment planning."
Osman remained silent.
Then she asked,
"And why should I give that authority to you?"
Gaius answered without hesitation.
"Because I have prepared worlds for war before."
The statement was calm.
Matter-of-fact.
Yet nobody in the room doubted it.
Osman stared at him for several moments.
Then she sighed.
"I can’t grant that authority myself."
"I would need approval from Admiral Parangosky."
"Then ask her."
Gaius replied.
"If Cascade is going to become a battlefield, preparations must begin immediately."
Osman nodded slowly.
"I’ll arrange a meeting."
Then she looked at everyone else gathered in the room.
Gaius looked toward the group.
"They will be assisting me."
Osman raised an eyebrow.
"Them?"
Gaius nodded.
"I will need capable personnel."
His gaze settled on Naruto.
"Naruto will assist with the evacuation efforts."
That immediately made Naruto blink.
"Me?"
Gaius nodded.
"You work well with people."
"You can keep morale high."
"And with your shadow clones, you can be in many places at once, helping civilians evacuate far more quickly than most."
Naruto scratched the back of his head.
When Gaius put it that way, it actually made sense.
Gaius then looked toward the others.
"Saeko."
"Mindy."
"Diana."
"You will assist in organizing the evacuation."
The three women nodded.
Millions of civilians could not simply be moved without coordination.
Shelters.
Transportation.
Supplies.
Routes.
All of it needed organization.
Then Gaius turned toward Tanya.
"Tanya will assist as well."
Osman immediately understood the reasoning.
Tanya had military experience.
In her own world, she had been a commander.
She understood logistics and administration far better than most civilians.
Tanya simply nodded.
"Understood."
Gaius looked back toward Osman.
"Once authority is granted, I will begin preparing Cascade’s defenses."
Osman remained silent for a moment before nodding.
"Then wait for my response."
"I’ll speak with Admiral Parangosky."
Gaius inclined his head.
"Thank you."
"As for the evacuation," Osman continued, "preparations will begin immediately."
That at least required no special authorization.
If there was even a possibility of a Covenant attack, civilian relocation procedures would begin automatically.
The UNSC had done it countless times before.
Unfortunately, they rarely had enough time.
Osman looked around the room one last time.
Her expression hardened.
"We’ll contact you again soon."
The hologram vanished.
Silence settled over the living room.
Gaius rose to his feet.
"Naruto."
"Saeko."
"Mindy."
"Diana."
"Tanya."
Everyone turned toward him.
His expression remained calm.
"Begin preparing."
"From this moment onward, assume Cascade will become a battlefield."
Naruto, Mindy, Saeko, Diana, and Tanya all nodded.
There was no hesitation.
Naruto was the first to speak.
"So what do we do now?"
Gaius met his gaze.
"We wait for Osman’s response."
"At the same time, we begin our own preparations."
Naruto nodded.
That made sense.
Meanwhile, at the workshop, Tony had already arrived.
Halsey was there as expected.
The moment he entered, Tony spoke.
"Did ONI tell you?"
Halsey nodded.
"Yes."
She looked at him.
"So, what’s your decision?"
Tony didn’t hesitate.
"We’re not leaving."
"We’ll stay and protect Cascade."
Halsey wasn’t surprised.
In truth, she had expected that answer.
She gave a slight nod.
"Then neither will I."
Tony raised an eyebrow.
"You were told to leave too?"
"Yes," Halsey replied.
"Admiral Parangosky instructed me to evacuate immediately."
Tony studied her for a moment.
"You sound confident."
Halsey shook her head.
"No."
"I’m being realistic."
That answer caught Tony’s attention.
Halsey continued.
"Humanity has been losing this war for decades."
"Every year we lose worlds."
"Every year more people die."
Her gaze drifted briefly toward the holographic displays filling the workshop.
"But your arrival changed the equation."
"The technologies you’ve brought."
"The knowledge you’ve shared."
"The possibilities you’ve opened."
She met Tony’s gaze.
"For the first time in a very long time, I can see a path to victory."
The workshop fell silent.
Then Halsey spoke again.
"And if we cannot defend even a single colony with all these advantages..."
She paused.
"Then humanity was never going to win this war."
Tony held her gaze for a moment.
Then a small chuckle escaped him.
"Well..."
"When you put it like that."
Halsey’s expression remained unchanged.
She wasn’t joking.
Tony shook his head before smiling slightly.
"Then let’s get to work."
He turned toward the holographic displays.
"The Covenant’s biggest advantage is orbit."
"If I can take that away, everything else becomes easier."
Halsey nodded.
"You intend to strengthen Cascade’s defenses."
"Exactly."
Tony replied.
"I don’t need to destroy their fleet."
"I just need to make orbital bombardment a bad idea."
Now that humanity’s shielding technology, AI systems, and several other advancements were available to him, the possibilities were far greater than before.
Halsey stepped beside him.
"Then I’ll help."
Tony grinned.
"Good."
"Because we’re going to need a lot of guns."
For the first time that morning, a faint smile appeared on Halsey’s face.
"That much, Mr. Stark, I completely agree with."
Tony nodded.
"JARVIS."
"Prepare the design platform."
"Yes, sir."
The workshop immediately responded.
The central platform illuminated.
Streams of data filled the room.
Shield technology.
Arc Reactor designs.
Missile systems.
Targeting software.
Smart AI coordination networks.
Tony stepped onto the platform.
Halsey joined him.
Moments later, a holographic model of Cascade appeared.
Then dozens of Covenant warships materialized in orbit above it.
The problem was immediately obvious.
The Covenant could remain safely in orbit while bombarding the planet below.
Tony folded his arms.
"We change that."
He looked toward the hologram.
"We’re building the biggest laser I’ve ever designed."
Halsey’s eyebrows rose slightly.
"A laser?"
Tony nodded.
"A planetary defense laser."
Halsey’s mind immediately jumped to the engineering challenges.
The concept itself wasn’t difficult to understand.
The scale was.
Planetary distances.
Atmospheric interference.
Covenant shielding.
The power requirements alone would be immense.
"That would require an absurd amount of energy."
Tony smiled.
"Good thing power isn’t the problem."
He gestured toward the Arc Reactor schematics floating nearby.
"My Arc Reactors can handle that."
With another gesture, the hologram changed.
Instead of a single installation, multiple laser batteries appeared across Cascade.
Power links connected them into a single defensive network.
Halsey’s eyes narrowed.
"A defense grid."
Tony nodded.
"Exactly."
"A single battery can be destroyed."
"A network is much harder to neutralize."
The simulation updated once more.
Power flowed between the installations.
Targeting data synchronized across the network.
Every battery operated as part of a single coordinated system under JARVIS’s control.
"If a Covenant ship enters orbit."
Tony said calmly.
"It won’t be facing one laser."
"It’ll be facing the entire planet."
For the first time, Halsey saw where he was going.
The objective was not necessarily destroying every Covenant ship.
The objective was making low orbit so dangerous that remaining there became unacceptable.
With a snap of his fingers, a drink appeared in Tony’s hand.
Taking a sip, he continued.
"This is one of our ideas for forcing the Covenant into a ground war."
Halsey became interested.
"What about the others?"
Tony shrugged.
"We found that the Covenant sometimes fight ground battles even when they have complete space superiority."
"We thought maybe resources."
"Technology."
"Strategic locations."
"But we couldn’t find a clear reason."
Halsey became thoughtful.
Reach came to mind.
The Covenant had committed enormous ground forces there before glassing the planet.
Then she remembered the crystal buried beneath Menachite Mountain.
A Forerunner artifact.
A possibility formed.
"There may be a connection to Forerunner artifacts."
Tony immediately turned toward her.
"Forerunners?"
"The civilization that built many of the ancient structures and artifacts humanity has discovered."
Halsey replied.
Tony listened carefully.
Halsey continued.
"I don’t know if that’s the reason."
"But I’ve personally seen the Covenant show unusual interest in locations connected to Forerunner technology."
Tony nodded slowly.
"So when they don’t immediately glass a planet..."
"They might be looking for something."
"Possibly."
Halsey replied.
"We don’t have enough information to know for certain."
Tony thought for several moments.
Then another question appeared.
"If that’s true..."
"How do they know where to look?"
Halsey was silent.
That was a question ONI had never answered.
The galaxy was enormous.
Searching every planet individually would be impossible.
Tony continued.
"If they are finding these locations repeatedly..."
"They must have some method."
"A way to identify worlds that have Forerunner artifacts."
Halsey folded her arms.
"That’s a reasonable assumption."
Tony took another sip from his drink.
Then suddenly said,
"Then we’re looking at this from the wrong direction."
Halsey looked at him.
"How so?"
"We’re trying to figure out how the Covenant finds Forerunner technology."
Tony shrugged.
"Maybe we should start by understanding Forerunner technology itself."
The workshop became quiet.
Tony continued.
"You’re one of the most important scientists humanity has."
"If humanity has any recovered Forerunner artifacts."
"Any research."
"Any technology."
"You’d either know about it or know who does."
Halsey became thoughtful.
Because that was true.
Tony wasn’t claiming she had the answer.
He was pointing out where the answer might be found.
Tony looked at her.
"If we’re right..."
"And the Covenant can identify worlds containing Forerunner artifacts..."
"Then understanding those artifacts might tell us how they’re doing it."
Halsey’s expression gradually became serious.
Tony finished his drink.
"If humanity already has a piece of Forerunner technology somewhere..."
"It might be the best lead we’ve got."
"And if we figure out how the Covenant detects those artifacts..."
"Maybe we can turn that against them."
Halsey remained silent.
Tony continued.
"If we can make the Covenant believe there’s a Forerunner artifact on Cascade..."
"They’ll have another reason not to glass the planet from orbit."
"They’ll be forced to come down and secure it first."
The implication settled over the workshop.
Rather than relying solely on Cascade’s defenses...
They could exploit the Covenant’s own objectives to force them into a ground war.
~~~
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