Hijack

I laughed uproariously as I ran a golden armored Elite Zealot threw with his own energy sword and twisted the blade to hasten his journey to the next great adventure.

Timit and his boys were providing a plasma launching phalanx, helping the Spartans push to the bridge while I dealt with any Elites that came into melee range and two teams lead by other high ranking Jackals and Skirmishers were taking the life support control systems and engines.

A number of Elites had died when their Grunt Lances went suicide bomber on them, and the survivors were quickly marked with the red emblem of the X-Force. It was legitimately funny listening to a pair of the fart munchers talking about the dental plans provided by the X-Force.

Apparently our revolution has great coverage for your teeth.

We were accomplishing all of this under the cover of communications jamming originating from the Phantoms we boarded with. Because of this, the rest of the fleet had no way of knowing that they needed to attack the ships we were taking, and like silent fleet cancer we spread further and further with each passing moment undetected.

Eventually the Covenant would realize that all their ships in the New Alexandria area were gone, but loss of coms in combat is so common it might as well be considered the standard, so we had time.

Our own coms were unscrambled, allowing me to keep abreast of the status of the other boarding parties' progress, and from the sound of things, parties is the correct term.

Ground side we were quickly converting the mostly Brute led forces. Officially War Chief Grax would be suspected of dying on the destroyed super carriers in orbit, and I didn't try to fix that assumption with a big old broadcast to the entire fleet. Too big a risk for only the chance at some chaos in the mixed species army attacking Reach.

Instead we were focusing entirely on controlling the New Alexandria theatre, taking ships and recruiting personnel. The X-Force was positively ballooning in man power. We needed to kill all the Elites and Drones, but that wasn't going to bother us. The Brutes, Skirmishers, and Jackals were all quick to change sides when they saw the equipment being used by the X-Force, and the Grunts were more than happy to turn on the Covenant for the chance at revenge. It also helped that they were finally joining a brotherhood of equals, rather than a society of slaves.

Weird how I have come full circle on that subject, but square pegs don't fit round holes. And I love me some round holes.

After I slew the ship master, Timit wrapped himself in the Elite's purple fur cape and jumped in the dead man's throne.

"Fuckin plush." He let out a content breath, "You really know how to make best mates for life my big scaly friend."

"Remember to walk around every now and then." I chuckled, "I won't tolerate fat Ship Masters."

"Perish the thought." Timit denied, "The ladies across the sea of stars would weep if Timit the Dashing lost his rakish good looks."

We continued trading good natured banter while the reports from the other teams rolled in.

"That's all of them," I grinned as we took the fourth Corvette in the area, "Alright people, take out the Phantoms and Banshees then get these ships under Shroud coverage."

"Shroud coverage?" Kat questioned, "We need your ships in the fight."

"I can't risk the chance that the ships currently attacking can get a message to the rest of the inbound fleet." I shook my head, "There are over three hundred ships scheduled to arrive on the thirtieth local calendar. Even if we destroy all the current Covenant forces by the time they arrive, all we will have accomplished is making them pay more for the victory. Something I intend to do, but the Covenant will win the battle for Reach. They are bringing in too much firepower for us to stop."

"Don't act like we have already lost." Kat hissed.

"Don't act like an optimist." I sighed, "It's math. Simple and brutal. We can't influence the big picture on this planet, but we can make sure that not all of the smaller pictures that make that collage are completely fucked up."

"We understand." Carter interrupted, "With your help we have accomplished far more than was possible without you. The city below us has a safe window to evacuate, and that is a fine thing."

"Agreed." Jorge nodded his head, "There are millions of people safe right now because of what we are doing."

"Timit," I called to the new ship master, "do you have a location on the other ships attacking right now."

"I do, War Chief." Timit nodded his feathered head.

"Good." I grinned, "I've got a team of demons that are feeling the need to raise some hell. Best we point them in the right direction."

We managed to clean up the Covie advanced forces with generous sacrifices from the UNSC. X-Force on the other hand picked up three more ships and now had over five and a half million active members. We used the eight days left to us before the Fall of Reach to salvage and loot everything we could to feed the nanotech forges the materials needed to arm and armor the new premier free company in the Halo Verse.

Let's not kid ourselves about the Banished being a real threat. One converted civilian vessel with half its crew damn near wrecked Atriox's plans. Credit where it's due, the guy has a damn fine beard and great taste in armor, but the Banished ain't got shit on the X-Force.

The Nobles were a great asset during the ship boardings, but I wasn't kidding myself into thinking we were friends. They were special forces 'advisors' to what amounts to Space Al Qaeda. We are real handy against the Space Russians, but once that conflict is over Space Al Qaeda is a great big liability to Space America. The Nobles were doing everything in their power to commit my mannerisms and fighting prowess to heart in their attempt to create an accurate profile that will enable them to take me down when the dust settles.

It'd be fucking pointless as I have more biological armor than the Master Chief has plot armor, but the deeply buried krogan in me rejoiced in my future enemies taking my threat so seriously.

My time with the Nobles ended when they were called on by the UNSC to destroy Sword Base. Not that I knew that was what they were doing from them, just the timing.

I hadn't managed to get Kat's forgiveness from the personal angle, but at least I had her respect as a fellow warrior and future foe. I'd miss those dummy thicc ass cheeks, but sometimes you play your cards wrong in life.

"Well team…" I began my farewell, "It was good for me."

And I left it at that.

A big part of me wanted to stick around and really flex my power on the Covies, but the X-Force was too new for me to run off for a good time, and I wasn't having them stick around for the arrival of the main fleet.

Our efforts would result in major losses for the Covies as the UNSC now had complete control of their orbital defenses. It wouldn't be enough as the Prophets allotted enough forces to still win in case the advanced forces completely failed, but it would be costly. Far more costly than the original battle for Reach and that was good for me.

Less forces for Jul to pick up later.

"Babe, we are moving out. Everything good on your end?" I asked Jack over a heavily encrypted comms line.

"Yeah," she answered, "I'm in position. See you after I save the galaxy."

"Love you, Jack."

"Love you too, babe."