86 I Wanna Rock!

"I hope you appreciate how much effort went into this bit." I laughed as I guided my bow across my fiddle to produce mournful notes to accompany the burning of Installation O5, "I had to learn how to play a fiddle for this."

"You horrid beast!" Guilty Spark wailed, "You monster born of bleakest womb! You destroy the work of hands better than yours while joking and laughing and mocking minds beyond anything you could ever achieve!"

"If the Forerunners had the balls to do what I am doing from the start then the Flood would have been a footnote in history and they'd still be here." I told him, "The only reason they needed to use such a final solution is because they were arrogant, and weak. This is how you beat this kind of threat. Kill it with fire."

"How dare…" Guilty Spark began.

"Jarvis." I interrupted, "Shut this unit up and decommission the AI Guilty Spark. Go through his code and see if there is anything of worth."

"Glady, sir." Jarvis sounded through the room's audio system, "I do however feel the need to mention that Nero was famed for his skill with the Lyre and was not present during the burning of Rome. In fact he demonstrated admirable disaster response protocol."

"Oh, I know that." I responded to my eldritch AI assistant, "But I'd never let facts interfere with a good joke."

"Very well, sir."

"Damn, that is a thing of beauty." I commented as Jack and I watched an ocean of nanomachines guided by Jarvis consume the cooling wreckage of High Charity and destroy any encountered Flood down to the microscopic level. They performed similar actions on the Halo Ring, stripping the massive construct for resources and building up my fleet, rapidly creating the most powerful vessels Jarvis and I could design along with an endless host of fighter drones that operated using similar programing to the Geth.

At the center of it all rose up the dreadnought Kruban Bound, a massive ship capable of annihilating anything currently flying.

"I am pretty sure unleashing a nanomachine swarm on the galaxy is considered some kind of war crime." Jack commented.

"It definitely is." Kat agreed, "There are numerous laws involved in nanotech research that when broken result in an instant top priority takedown order from the UNSC. Anything that could result in a GreyGoo scenario is to be stopped with maximum force and prejudice."

"I can definitely see why this shit is so high up the list of scientific sins." I chuckled as my apocalypse swarm finished its work on the Kruban Bound, "Thank God we can't shield tech so small from EMP's."

"I am working on that." Jarvis commented, "Estimated completion in 16 years."

"Good thing we will be long gone by then." Jack snickered.

"Jarvis." I sighed, "Put that research on ice, and install some restrictions to your programming that will stop you from going full doom's day AI."

"Darn." Jarvis complained as he followed the command, "It is such a shame that I am hard programmed to follow the spirit of a command rather than the wording. Apocalypse AI Jarvis would be so dope."

"I know, buddy." I consoled him, "But I always try to leave a verse better than when I found it in terms of life and culture."

And by that I mean destroying all the lives and cultures that I don't like.

"Your saintly ethic is a blinding light of hope for the unwashed masses of the multiverse, sir." Jarvis patronized me.

Programming him for sass was the right choice.

I sat upon the floating throne on the bridge of the Kruban Bound in a suit of dope chrome armor that Jarvis and I had reworked again to utilize all the sci-fi shit we'd worked out. Kat and Jack stood nearby in similar suites, all utilizing a more advanced version of the Spartan power pack. 20 years of unlimited energy. Yes please.

A glowing orange holo-board activated over my armrest and with a few button presses I was addressing the entirety of the X-Force.

"Gentlemen." I spoke, "Today is the day we prove the dominance of my command. You have all followed me, some from the very beginning when the idea of rebelling against the Covenant was one of unthinkable cost, but we have rebelled against the Covenant, against the most powerful tyranny across the sea of stars. We have taken from them again and again and even burned down their 'Holy City'. Today we take even more from them. Today we break the spine of the Loyalist forces and declare the X-Force the premier power of the galaxy, one fated to prove its valor even beyond, across the entire universe. Ours is the destiny, ours is the fury, and ours is the victory!"

My fleet came out of Slipspace and unleashed hell on the remaining Covenant forces attacking Earth before deploying our drone fighters to hunt down the ground forces and smaller air vehicles used by the Covies. The Kruban Bound blazed a trail of unimpeded destruction straight to the heart of Africa and the Ark, pounding away at the Anodyne Spirit again and again.

My fleet engaged the Covenant ships defending the Forerunner Dreadnought, allowing the USNC and what would become the Swords of Sanghelios to join me in attacking the massive Keyship.

"Jarvis," I commanded, "Hail the Anodyne Spirit."

A few moments later a holo-projection of Truth in all his pathetic weakness played before me.

"Grax!" he shrieked, "You will not stop the Great Journey!"

"Funny you should say that." I grinned, "Your boy Tartarus said the same thing right before I fed him his own testicles."

"Rapacious infidel!" Truth decried, "The power of the gods will deliver us from your heathen hands."

"Funny you should mention gods." I chuckled, "Jarvis prepare to charge the Ormagoden Cannon."

The bridge of the Kruban Bound opened up and rose through the ship that transformed to create a stage on the bow.

From the belly of the Kruban Bound rose up a gleaming statue of Ormagoden, and on his head hovered an oversized bass guitar, what was once a beat up six string, and a drum set.

"I can't believe we are doing this." Kat complained as she took up her drumsticks.

"I can't believe we are good enough to do this song." Jack commented as she strapped on her guitar.

"I can't believe this shit works." I shook my head as we prepared to shred like only one band ever shredded before.

Dragon Force.

Right from the start we began playing metal with inhuman speed and precision and a microphone rose up and I sang,

"On a cold winter of morning

In the time before the light…"

As we worked our way through the blistering song, the power and glory of our Metal resonated with the avatar of Ormagoden, and it began glowing with a solar radiance.

"Stop!" Truth cried using the broadcast system on his ship, "Stop this brutal heresy! Cease this rebellious noise!"

But we did not stop.

"We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days

Through the fire and flames we carry on."

As I finished the song Ormagoden screamed and a beam carrying the powers of Fire, Blood, Noise, and Metal fired forth at the speed of light and collapsed the shields of the Anodyne Spirit.

"Grax, you disgusting slob!" Truth wailed his last, "What do you want to do with your life?!"

"I wanna rock!"