Cyberpunk: Spartan Walker

Case's eyebrows knitted together. Cortana?

There's no time to explain, Captain, we have to leave this galaxy first! Cortana said hurriedly.

She noticed that the thirteen warships of the Covenant force were approaching their position menacingly. Her comm channel was filled with arrogant threats to burn her and the Supreme Justice to ashes.

Those were all useless data, and she filtered them all out.

Leave? What should we do if we make peace? the navigation officer, Second Lieutenant Lovell, muttered.

Sir, they are preparing to fire the plasma cannon. Lieutenant Dominic reported at the same time.

The temperature of the weapons on the Covenant warship gradually increased, turning into a scary dark red.

In this way, we were destroyed before the jump, Keyes stared at the display screen closely. Cortana, can the weapon system of this battleship be used?

Wait a moment, Captain.

Cortana remained calm. After delving into the Covenant's plasma weapons systems, she now understood why they glowed before firing.

The accumulated plasma is always hot and ready to fire, but the Covenant forces use an inefficient method to form a plasma beam and fire it in a fixed direction. They select the protoelectrons, design a trajectory suitable for hitting the target, shunt the plasma into a magnetic bubble, and then the magnetic bubble is ejected, and the subsequent magnetic pulse will guide the plasma beam towards the target.

The Covenant people are such an advanced race, but their weapons rely on such poor calculations and rely solely on brute force, so that they are extremely inefficient and cause serious waste.

She activates new systems designed to control plasma. It first uses electromagnetic pulses to arrange disordered charged atoms, and make them merge into a light beam as thin as a laser along a certain trajectory within a microsecond.

Of course, this is still entirely a theoretical idea, but soon it will be put into practice for the first time.

Weapon systems are organized and ready to fire, Cortana reported.

Lieutenant Hiyoshi Kazuko, heading sixty-two degrees, plasma cannon fire!

Yes, sir. Lieutenant Kazuko Hiyoshi, the weapons officer, quickly slapped his hand on a triangular symbol on the console.

Three muffled thunders rolled across the hull of the Supreme Justice as the three plasma cannons on the bow of the ship were fired.

In the dark space, three rushing red plasma beams struck the three leading cruisers of the Covenant force. Their shields suddenly burst into orange light, flickering and then fading away.

The plasma beam then cut into the smooth alien hull, the metal of the hull was melted and disintegrated, and then three light beams passed through the spacecraft cleanly and shot into the endless darkness.

Captain, don't mind if I make some small adjustments to the trajectory. Cortana said as she moved the light beam up and down like a scalpel, cutting the cruiser into two pieces, and violent blue-purple flames surged out from the section. , shining in the silent space.

The crew members were dumbfounded, and the entire bridge was silent. Cortana guessed it was the first time they had seen a Covenant warship defeated so easily, and she was filled with pride.

Okay, she said. However, the plasma reserves of the first three turrets have been exhausted, and it will take several minutes before they can be used again.

It would be nice if the flagship had better electromagnetic systems so she could devise more efficient guidance algorithms. Alas, it's a travesty that the Covenant's grasp of Maxwell's equations is far inferior to that of humans.

Cortana now realizes that she was lucky to have cut off communications with the outside world before the Covenant's artificial intelligence revealed the new plasma guidance system. If every ship in the Covenant fleet was re-equipped with improved weapons, the consequences would be disastrous.

At the same time, she also realized that staying here and struggling was not the wisest thing to do. She considered taking on the remaining Covenant troops, and with the improved weapons system, she might win. But in case of failure, it would be more than worth the loss to allow the Covenant troops to obtain her improved technology to improve their combat capabilities. The risk is not worth taking.

Case was the first to recover from the shock. Awesome, Cortana, we must get this ship back to Earth. Now, let's get out of here first. Enter the atmosphere of Reach, and we will make another high-gravity jump.

It seemed that Colonel Keyes had the same idea.

As you command, Captain.

At Keyes's command, Cortana fired the plasma cannon on the rear of the Justice, sending laser-like beams of energy flashing through space as a squadron of Seraph fighters took off from the nearest aircraft carrier. Beaten to pieces. Explosions occurred one after another inside the aircraft carrier's launch bay, causing mushroom-shaped flames to rise.

She did not stop to watch the gorgeous fireworks, but steered the Infinite Justice towards the center of the Reach Star and dived down at the fastest speed, getting closer and closer to the planet's surface. She didn't know where the Master Chief was now and if he was safe.

I shouldn't have told you to be careful at all, she whispered. You don't know how to be careful. I should have wished you victory. That's what you're good at. John, may you win.

She activated the jump fault generator, causing space to twist and crack, and then the flagship melted into the surrounding light.

****

Date record anomaly＼Estimated to be 0510 hours on September 23, 2552 in the military calendar

In the Epsilon Eridanus system, the captured Covenant troop transport is on its way to the surface of Reach.

Rebecca sat cross-legged on the deck of the Phantom troop carrier, looking at the dark sky through the narrow observation window beside her. She was sitting on the deck because the shock-resistant chairs were made for fold-out heads and turkey monsters, and none were shaped to fit the human spine. That's okay—she prefers the cold, purple deck of a strip club.

Why are gnolls called turkey monsters? Maybe it’s because she saw it on a TV show. Rebecca herself couldn’t figure it out. She had never eaten turkey in Night City, and Thanksgiving was no exception. That thing was too luxurious, and just one was enough for her. I bought several iron galls.

However, there may be a chance to try it when he returns to Earth. After all, Tommy seems to be rich and powerful, so getting some turkey will definitely not be a problem. When I get this new thing, I have to take it back to my brother to try it. He hasn't eaten it yet. Damn it, why am I thinking of him again? He's dead.

The vibrations caused by the Phantom dropship's acceleration brought her thoughts back, and she refocused on the scene outside the window. They passed through Reach's upper atmosphere, falling from the sky like a spider trailing a thousand kilometers of thread behind it.