Cyberpunk: Spartan Walker

During the Covenant War, 49 time units per year, the sixth cycle, in the high orbit of the gas giant near the sacred ring, on the flagship Wushang Justice.

Captain, we have found out. The name of the battleship is the Holy Knight. Its status is the deputy looked at the holographic panel for a moment, hijacked

Hijacked? This is the first time in so many time loops that Felsami has heard this word used on his own warship, Then we-

What are they doing? the prophet interrupted him with a scream, his withered and wrinkled fingers tremblingly pointed at the Holy Knight, which deviated from its course and crashed straight into the boarding ship.

Then dazzling flames flashed in their eyes, and the boarding spacecraft was immediately crushed to pieces. Felsami's heart sank, and he turned his face away, not daring to look at the management prophet.

How dare they! How dare those maggots!! The management prophet stretched out his long neck and roared at Vrsami. His eyes were red, and his hands thumped on the anti-gravity seat. , You! Destroy it for me, destroy it! I want to see them torn to pieces! I want to see them turn into the most insignificant dust in the universe! I want to see them-

A shadow enveloped the port side camera of the Infinite Justice. The Prophet was like a rooster that had its neck strangled when it crowed. The sound was stuck inside and could not come out - the cruiser actually rammed directly towards them.

Go at full speed, activate the port side protective layer! Felsami blushed and roared at his deputy.

The energy shields of the two ships collided heavily, an orange flash erupted from the contact, and ripples rippled around. There was a muffled sound in the bridge, and the management prophet flew out of his anti-gravity seat and fell to the deck with a snap.

Curse these lunatics! Vrsami muttered bitterly. He looked at his deputy, Give me the order to have all ships open fire with all their strength and sink the Blasphemer!

As ordered, sir. the deputy replied. The sides of the other cruisers next to them lit up with dark red light, but the Holy Knight suddenly changed its direction and flew straight to the lower edge of the halo. Sir, ahead There is a holy sign standing between us and the enemy ship.

All members of the Covenant have great respect for the sacred ring, because the so-called pilgrimage that unites the entire Covenant is to discover and activate the ring, follow the pace of the forerunners, and enter the hall of transcendence and sanctity. But the Holy Knight dared to use the halo as a cover, without any fear of damaging the holy relics. Felsami dared to bet that the people on top of the four plasma grenades were definitely human beings.

Vrsami was about to say something, but the management prophet who hurriedly got up interrupted him.

No, no! shouted the management prophet, You will damage the holy monument! Get close to them and make sure everything is safe before opening fire!

By the time everything is in place, it will be too late! Vrsami's face turned red, and he was very dissatisfied with the ridiculous order of managing the prophet.

Do as you do! Vorsami ordered, Change the course, follow them, and wait for the opportunity to fire!

——

Aboard the Covenant's unknown cruiser.

I'm sorry, she hid it too deep, and I couldn't stop her when I left, Ellie's holographic image has returned to normal, and she said apologetically.

The cruiser's tail thruster burst out with blue-purple light, and the halo on the display screen was so close to them that even the lines at the bottom of the halo were clearly visible.

Are you done yet? Rebecca jumped in anger. She pointed at Ellie and shouted, You almost killed us all!

Although the others did not speak out, Tommy knew that they would inevitably have this thought in their hearts.

Ellie lowered her head and said nothing. The data flowing rapidly through her body told Tommy that she was still working hard to control the spacecraft.

A few seconds after the collision with the boarding spacecraft, the frantic Ellie twisted and disappeared. The cruiser they were on suddenly turned and successfully avoided the enemy warship before causing greater collision damage. However, this move seemed to anger the Covenant. They were now chasing them with all their strength, but they did not dare to fire because of the obstruction of the halo - this was what Tommy expected.

We'll discuss this later, Tommy comforted Rebecca, looking at the artificial intelligence with a complicated expression, Ellie, can you start the jump now?

The jump fault generator has been charged, but Ellie's face was full of regret, we are now too low to escape the gravity field of the halo. Even if we turn on full power, we can't stop the gradual decline of the spacecraft. Even if it descends, it will not be able to open a tunnel to jump to the fault space.

The battleships pursued by the Covenant pressed closer, and the firepower forced them closer to the edge of the halo and deeper into the atmosphere. She fights to keep the ship's trajectory safe - do so or be engulfed in plasma. She had merely postponed their fate for one minute.

She recalculated each set of data: thrust, speed, and gravity. Even after she overloaded the reactor to the point of meltdown, they couldn't escape the downward spiral.

To enter the jump fault space, the spacecraft must stay away from the strong gravity field. Gravity distorts the quantum wire's extraordinarily delicate shape, which Ellie relies on to calculate its path. The Covenant force's slipspace technology is indeed extremely advanced. Perhaps after careful calculation, they can achieve a jump in a strong gravity field and atmosphere, but Ellie knows that this is not what she can do now.

Becca, can you formulate a firing plan? Tommy thought for a moment before digging out this word from his limited knowledge of ship-to-ship combat. One that can use the halo cover to sink the opponent's pursuing ships. firing plan.

Well Rebecca hesitated, and sneered under Tommy's slowly glazed eyes, Let's open fire freely?

Don't you have some tactics? Tommy asked in disbelief.

That chip only taught me how to control the spaceship. I don't know any tactics! Rebecca looked at the densely packed holographic consoles on the bridge and said collapsed, And this is one of those spaceships with hinged heads. I can't even handle it. understood!

He suddenly felt a dull pain somewhere in his head. That's it, Gao looked at the biochip. He also fantasized about using that thing to train captains in batches.

A red plasma beam flashed across the display screen, and another bang sound came from the stern of the ship. The temperature on the bridge suddenly jumped to jealousy, and the five of them were shaken and staggered.

Report! Tommy looked at Ellie.

I activated the emergency propulsion device to avoid one plasma beam, Ellie reported, but I can't guarantee whether the next one can be avoided. You need to make a decision as soon as possible!

Tommy glanced at the huge and slowly rotating halo of light on the display screen. They had no choice, right? I'm just sorry that not only could I not help the UNSC troops above, but I may also need their assistance.

In that case, let's land on that ring. Tommy nodded, Ellie, use this cruiser as a cover for us. Do the Covenant have special escape tools for bridge personnel?

UNSC ship designers will set up escape hatches everywhere on the battleship, and the bridge is no exception. This is a normal design concept for evacuating bridge officers who guard the ship until the last moment. Tommy believes that the Covenant people will not be stupid enough to do this. situation.

Sure enough, green lights came on on the bridge. Hidden panels on three sides were retracted into the outer bulkhead, and three circular hatches were exposed in front of the bridge, each with an escape hatch inside.

Before leaving, I want to leave a subroutine in the ship's system to perform evasive actions and a certain degree of counterattack. Ellie's expression showed annoyance that she had messed up. She was eager to find someone immediately. Returning to the scene, not wanting to embarrass herself so much in front of Tommy, UNSC's artificial intelligence is not something to be trifled with.

Very good, I should give them some color before I leave.

It was too late to take away the supplies on the ship, so Tommy pulled out Ellie's chip and inserted it into the back of his helmet, leading the team to rush to the nearest hatch. When Tommy jumped from the edge, he already felt the rumbling sound of the spacecraft. He fell into a spherical escape capsule. The interior of the escape capsule was lined with anti-collision seats and had safety belts attached.

Fasten your seat belt, hurry up! Tommy sideways let them pass, and then slaps his hands randomly on everything that might be the control panel.

The door closed, and the next moment, the escape cabin shook, and he stumbled towards a seat. After sitting firmly, the escape capsule was launched with a bang, and the white clouds on the halo quickly enlarged in front of the observation window.

The Covenant cruisers outside were torn apart in clouds of fire and metal, their escape pods rolling away.

——

Aboard the Wushang Justice.

The Holy Knight has fully deployed side protection layers, and they are using the holy relics to hide, the deputy reported. Our ships simply don't dare to fire.

The lower two mouths of Vrsami moved, and he rubbed his chin. After a while, he ordered: Let the Ode to Warmth approach them from above, and the Guilt of Dusk and Darkness attack from both sides. Don't give them any chance. A chance to circle us.”

Yes, Captain. The deputy tapped the holographic keyboard and issued the order to each ship in the fleet.

This tactic really worked. The Holy Knight was attacked from three sides and had to sail towards the surface of the halo. When it broke through the atmosphere, it had violent friction with the air, and the hull burned with orange flames.

Vrsami was about to give the order to fire, but a thick cloud came closer and closer to them.

The Holy Knight suddenly turned around and plunged into the clouds high above the halo, blurring its outline to avoid the pursuing warships and the plasma fire directed at them.

The third and sixth lines increase their firepower. Vorsami ordered, As soon as you see the cruiser emerging from the shadow of the clouds, attack immediately. Transfer the engine power to the forward launcher, and at the same time do Be prepared to defend against attacks. Decide on attack targets based on the finalized trajectory.”

The deputy's thick fingers danced dexterously on the holographic keyboard, and then he nodded, indicating that everything was ready.

Holy Relics, never damage the Holy Relics, the management prophet muttered as he stared at the holographic screen, his two palms constantly rubbing against each other.

A beam of fiery plasma penetrated the clouds and hit the Justice.

The edge protective layer of Wushang Justice's energy shield emits a faint light as it rubs against the atmosphere. After being attacked by plasma light waves, it emits blazing beams of light, weakening the power of the plasma - by The attack has no effect. The protective layer is too powerful.

As time passed, the clouds below the Justice began to thin, and then the Holy Knight's hull was revealed.

All fire! Following Frsami's order, plasma rays continued to pour out from the side edge of their cabin, forming two strong beams of light toward the distance. At the same time, the lights on the bridge also dimmed.

Anti-targeting signal detected! another deputy yelled. They are trying to disrupt our targeting attack!

The plasma particles shuttle back and forth, spreading into countless noise points between the Justice and the Holy Knight, making it impossible to tell which one is the target to attack. Vorsami never expected that humans would use the technology on ships in this way. If the heretics' technological level was the same as theirs, then the outcome of the war. Vorsami couldn't help but shudder, and he didn't dare to continue thinking about it. .

The Holy Knight struck back again. The endless stream of six plasma rays and eleven plasma fish hit the hulls of the Darkness and Dusk Guilt respectively. The dense and hot red lines crackled split the clouds and air. , intercepting the two leading cruisers of the Covenant force. Their shields exploded with orange light, flickering and then fading away. The Holy Knight's plasma beam cut into the smooth Covenant hull, the metal of the hull was melted, and the beam of light passed through the ship cleanly.

The two cruisers were quickly beaten into several pieces, and the parts flying in the sky turned into fireballs and fell towards the surface of the holy site. Vrsami knew they had no chance of touching land because the heat would burn them to ashes.

Sir, the Darkness was sunk by an enemy ship! The Dusk Guilt has also been confirmed destroyed! the deputy reported, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, There is no feedback from survivors!

Adjust the program to lock their signal. Vrsami stared at the holographic command screen in front of him with a gloomy face, Then fire again!

As ordered, the deputy responded. His hands moved quickly on the calculator, calculating the algorithm, Relock and reset completed, fire!

Their plasma is no longer the same as it was before, but is coming together - and accelerating.

The Holy Knight turned around and was right within the range of their plasma beam. However, this was nothing more than a doomed turn, and it was nowhere near fast enough.

The energy shield of the Holy Knight radiated huge heat. The first wave of attacks was ionized into gas by the protective layer. The second wave of attacks hit the hull, causing the protective shell, sensors and covering armor alloy to All started to melt.

Fire all power launchers. Vorsami ordered, Aim for the bullseye.

Yes, sir, the deputy replied, The launcher is ready to fire!

For the attack just now, the energy on the Justice was almost exhausted, and the lights on the bridge were converted to ultraviolet light for the final struggle. The light was so powerful that it illuminated the entire battlefield.

The Holy Knight was completely frozen in place for a moment - it was shot through the entire hull. First, the deck on the warship was blown to pieces, and then the plasma coils on the belly and stern of the ship were also wiped out. The entire cruiser no longer existed.

However, the plasma rays gathered by several cruisers also hit the sacred ring. The river water above began to boil, evaporate, and finally disappeared without a trace; the soil on the surface became shiny after being ravaged by the plasma beam - the two particles in the soil Silicon oxide began to melt at high temperatures, eventually forming glass; large swaths of plants were burned to ashes, and black fly ash floated over the ring; a section of the device was shattered and floated into space, with the cracks shining with lightning exposed. .

finished? Vrsami squinted his eyes and looked at the sky covered in blue-purple fireworks.

Captain, what is that? the deputy asked, pointing to a small black dot on the display screen.

Vrsami's hand clenched into a fist and hit the instrument console with a bang, That's their escape cabin. Recharge the plasma coil for me and prepare-

Stop, stop! The management prophet manipulated the anti-gravity seat and knocked down Frsami. He roared at the latter, You idiot! You dare to destroy the holy relics. Stop your blasphemy immediately. Behavior!

Vrsami was stunned by this, and then a surge of anger surged up. He slapped the deck hard, but his anger was quickly suppressed. He stood up slowly, Your Excellency, I am convinced that the human heretics are in that escape capsule. We must prevent them from joining their kind already on the ring!

I don't care what method you use, the management prophet's eyebrows stood up in anger, and the flesh on his chin turned red. The holy relic must not be damaged again! Otherwise, you will wait to be executed by me!

This retarded San'Shyuum! Vrsami almost broke his teeth, obviously just a little bit closer!

Yes, Your Excellency. Vorsami suppressed his anger and roared at the deputy next to him, Idiot, you heard it, send me a team of Banshee fighter jets to stop them, and be sure to eliminate them!