Chapter 294: Chapter 292 — Prepare Yourselves
Chapter 292 — Prepare Yourselves
Days passed.
Across Cascade, the skyline kept changing. New Planetary Defense Lasers rose one after another, their armored silhouettes becoming a familiar sight at strategic points throughout the colony. Not all of them were meant to be seen. Some sat completely hidden beneath the ground, tucked behind blast doors and layers of reinforced covering, waiting patiently for the day they would finally be needed.
At the same time, the evacuation moved steadily forward. Nearly seventy to eighty percent of Cascade’s civilian population had already been shipped off-world. The difference was impossible to miss. Entire residential districts had gone quiet, their streets emptier with each passing day. Meanwhile, the spaceports never slowed down. Transport vessels arrived and departed around the clock, loading and unloading without pause.
A large part of that efficiency came down to one person.
Naruto.
He moved supplies with the help of countless Shadow Clones, spread across every corner of the evacuation effort. They helped load evacuation ships. They hauled food, medical supplies, emergency equipment, and every other necessity the departing civilians would need. Whenever a dock radioed in a shortage of manpower, more clones were redirected there almost instantly. The moment one location finished its work, those clones dispersed and reappeared somewhere else that needed the extra hands.
It was remarkably fast. Hundreds of clones dashed through the colony at any given moment, carrying crates, moving containers, loading transports, unloading supplies as though the work never stopped. They weren’t quite as strong as the real Naruto, but they were still far stronger than an ordinary worker, each one capable of lifting loads that would normally take several people to manage. Their real weakness wasn’t strength. It was durability. A single solid hit was enough to make a clone vanish in a puff of smoke.
For this kind of work, though, that weakness barely mattered. The clones weren’t fighting anyone. They were simply working, over and over, without needing rest. Because there were so many of them, Naruto alone had effectively become an entire workforce. Every day, thousands of tons of cargo moved through the spaceports. Every day, thousands more civilians boarded ships and left the planet behind. And with every transport that departed, Cascade moved one step closer to finishing the evacuation before the Covenant ever arrived.
Not far from the docks, in one of the command rooms overseeing the operation, Tanya continued to keep watch over everything. Mindy, Saeko, and Diana stayed close by, helping wherever they were needed. Holographic displays floated in front of them, filled with transportation schedules, evacuation figures, and cargo manifests.
Mindy glanced over one of the latest progress reports and let out a small sigh of relief. "Good thing the Covenant didn’t show up immediately," she said. "We’re getting really close to finishing."
"Much closer than I expected," Diana agreed, nodding.
Saeko, still scanning through the evacuation numbers without looking up, added her own thought. "Indeed. Otherwise, even if we successfully defended Cascade, and I have little doubt we will, many civilians would still die."
Mindy nodded along with that. It was exactly what she’d meant, even if she hadn’t said it so plainly. The defenses gave her confidence. It was the evacuation that still weighed on her, not because it was going badly, but because there were still so many people who needed to leave.
Tanya took a slow sip of her coffee before speaking. "She’s right." Her eyes stayed fixed on the reports in front of her. "If the Covenant had arrived a week ago, we’d be completely unprepared. Millions of civilians would still be trapped on the planet." She set the cup down carefully. "And we’d be fighting a much harder battle." After a short pause, she added, almost as an afterthought, "Assuming the Covenant didn’t simply bombard the planet from orbit instead."
Nobody answered right away. The room went quiet for a moment, everyone understanding exactly what she meant without needing it explained further. Everything happening across Cascade, Tony’s growing defense network, Gaius’s careful planning, the relentless pace of the evacuation, all of it existed for one reason. So that when the Covenant finally arrived, Cascade would be ready.
Mindy broke the silence a moment later, scrolling through another report. "Anyway, there are only around four hundred thousand Tier One civilians left." She kept scrolling. "And another hundred thousand or so from Tier Two and Tier Three." She listed them off. "Engineers. Scientists. Military personnel."
Diana smiled at that. "That’s much better than where we started."
"Far better," Tanya agreed.
It was true. Every transport that left increased their chances just a little more. Every hour gained mattered, even if it didn’t feel like much in the moment.
Saeko leaned back slightly in her seat. "I wonder when the Covenant will arrive," she said, almost to herself.
It was a question that had been sitting in the back of everyone’s mind for days. Nobody had an answer. It could be tomorrow. It could be next week. It could be next month. The not knowing had become its own kind of exhausting.
"Hopefully not until we’re completely done," Mindy said quickly. "Otherwise that would be really bad."
Diana laughed softly. "Don’t jinx it."
The words had barely left her mouth when every communicator on the table activated at once.
The conversation stopped immediately. A hologram flickered to life above the table, Gaius. His expression was calm, the same as always. But there was no greeting this time. No introduction. No explanation. He spoke the instant the connection formed.
"Prepare yourselves."
A brief pause.
"The Covenant has arrived."
Silence swallowed the room. Nobody moved. For a second, the words simply hung there in the air, too heavy to process all at once. Then the hologram vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving the room completely still.
Slowly, every head turned toward Mindy.
Mindy blinked. She looked left. She looked right. Then she pointed at herself. "What?"
The staring didn’t stop.
"Oh, come on." She threw her hands up. "I didn’t do it."
Before that, in another part of the colony, Gaius had still been with Tony and Halsey.
The launch pod had finally been completed. Compared to the sheer scale of the Planetary Defense Lasers, building it had been relatively simple. That didn’t mean it was safe.
Halsey stood over a set of holographic simulations, her expression far from encouraging. "The launch pod itself is functional," she said, enlarging the image of a Covenant cruiser hanging in the air between them. "The problem is the shields."
Tony nodded immediately. "Exactly. That’s what I’ve been saying."
Halsey gestured toward the shimmering layer of energy surrounding the ship. "If the vessel still has significant shield strength, the pod won’t reach the hull. It’ll impact the shield instead. And that ends badly for whoever’s inside."
Gaius studied the display for a moment. "Then I target a vessel whose shields have already been weakened."
"By the lasers?" Tony asked, frowning.
Gaius nodded. "Or a vessel already damaged by them."
Halsey paused at that. It shifted the entire picture. The launch pod wasn’t meant to replace the Planetary Defense Lasers, it was meant to work alongside them. The lasers would remain the primary weapon against anything in orbit. The pod simply gave Gaius a way to take advantage of the openings the lasers created.
She reconsidered her numbers. "That improves the probability."
"Not exactly a comforting sentence," Tony muttered.
Halsey ignored the comment and kept going.
"However, the impact itself remains a problem."
Another simulation appeared, filled with figures.
Velocity.
Impact force.
Deceleration.
Structural stress.
"The shield is only one issue."
"Even if the pod reaches the hull..."
She enlarged the impact calculations until they were impossible to miss.
"This design has no terminal deceleration before impact, as you had requested."
"It strikes the target at an extremely high velocity."
Tony nodded as he studied the display.
"Very high."
"A Spartan would die," Halsey said flatly.
"The projected impact forces far exceed normal human survival limits."
Tony pointed at the numbers. "By a lot."
Halsey turned to look directly at Gaius. "Even after penetrating the shield, the collision with the hull would still be severe. The pod would survive." She let that sit for a second. "The occupant probably wouldn’t."
The room fell quiet.
Then Gaius spoke, his voice as steady as ever. "I am not a Spartan."
Neither Tony nor Halsey responded right away.
"I am an Ultramarine," Gaius continued. "I am the Emperor’s chosen. My strength has reached that of my Gene-Father. Roboute Guilliman."
Both Tony and Halsey reacted to that, unable to hide it. They didn’t know everything about the Primarchs, but they knew enough, enough to understand that Guilliman wasn’t a name Gaius would throw around lightly.
Tony stared at him for a long moment. His mind drifted back to the first time they’d met, the blue-armored Ultramarine who had stepped out from another universe entirely. Strong. Disciplined. Dangerous. And yet, looking at Gaius now, none of that seemed to compare to what he had become.
Tony finally let out a slow breath. "Gaius. It seems you’ve become very strong."
"Yes," Gaius said simply, giving a small nod.
Halsey stayed quiet for a moment longer before folding her arms. "In that case, I have nothing further to add."
"That’s it?" Tony asked, glancing at her.
She nodded. "My calculations are based on known biological limits." Her eyes met Gaius’s. "If your statement is accurate, those limits no longer apply."
"It is accurate," Gaius said.
The room went quiet again. Then Gaius spoke once more, calm as ever. "I will be fine."
Neither of them argued this time. Not because they were fully convinced, they weren’t, but because they both understood that pushing the point further wouldn’t change anything. Gaius had already made up his mind.
"Since we are agreed," Gaius went on, "have Jarvis create it. We need to be prepared."
Tony sighed and looked up toward the ceiling. "Jarvis."
"Yes, sir," the AI responded instantly.
"Begin fabrication of the launch pod."
A brief pause followed before Jarvis answered. "Initiating fabrication."
Just like that, the launch pod project officially entered production.
They kept talking for a while after that, going over progress and what construction still remained. Then, without warning, Gaius’s communicator activated. The sudden tone was enough to pull everyone’s attention immediately.
Gaius answered without hesitation. A hologram flickered into view, Marcus. His expression was serious. Far more serious than it had been before.
"Gaius," he said. "We have detected an unknown slipspace signal entering the system."
The room went silent at once.
"The signal possesses Covenant characteristics," Marcus continued.
Nobody said anything for a moment. Tony and Halsey had heard every word.
Tony exhaled slowly. "Well." He gave a short, humorless laugh. "Looks like I won’t be getting the last four lasers finished."
At that point, only thirteen Planetary Defense Lasers had been completed and brought online. The rest were still under construction.
Gaius showed no visible reaction. Instead, his attention snapped fully onto Marcus. "Maintain your position. Inform all military commands. Raise combat readiness. Warn everyone." A short pause. "Prepare for war."
"Understood," Marcus said immediately. "I’ll notify the colony."
The transmission cut out. Silence settled over the room again, but it felt different this time. Heavier.
The Covenant had arrived. Not in a week. Not in a month. Now.
Gaius turned to face Tony and Halsey. "Although our preparations are only approximately seventy percent complete," he said, pausing briefly before finishing, "it is enough. It will have to be."
Tony folded his arms and nodded. "I agree."
Thirteen completed Planetary Defense Lasers were still more than enough firepower to threaten any Covenant fleet foolish enough to underestimate them. Halsey nodded in agreement as well. She had built the things herself, alongside Tony, and had reviewed every specification personally. She knew exactly how dangerous they were.
Cascade wasn’t as ready as Gaius had hoped it would be. It wasn’t as ready as Tony had planned for either. But it was no longer defenseless.
Far from it.
If the Covenant wanted to take this colony, they were going to pay for every kilometer of ground they crossed, and for every ship they dared to bring into orbit.
~~~
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