Chapter 245 — ONI
Marcus led them through the station without lowering the tension completely.
The marines around the group had relaxed only enough to walk without firing. Their rifles remained firmly in their hands. Some held them across their chests. Others pointed them downward, but only slightly.
No one forgot what had just happened in Hangar Bay Three.
The new arrivals had appeared inside a locked military station without warning.
That alone was bad enough.
But the bigger problem was that they did not look like Covenant.
And they did not look like any group the UNSC recognized either.
So the escort continued in silence.
Heavy blast doors opened one at a time ahead of them with deep mechanical sounds, then shut again behind them after they passed through. Security checkpoints lined the halls. Automated turrets followed the group with quiet mechanical tracking movements.
Their targeting lights slid over Gaius again and again.
Then over Tony.
Naruto.
Diana.
Tanya.
Saeko.
Mindy.
And finally back to Gaius.
Station personnel stopped what they were doing to watch them pass.
Techs at terminals stared openly.
Workers carrying crates paused near the walls.
Medical staff turned their heads and kept watching even after the group had already moved on.
The station itself felt worn down by war.
Every corridor seemed full of tired faces, damaged equipment, and people trying to keep moving despite how long the war had already gone on.
Naruto kept looking around as they walked.
Not because he was scared.
Because he was curious.
He noticed the civilians first.
People with blankets wrapped around their shoulders.
Families carrying small bags.
Injured men and women sitting near corridor walls while medics changed bandages.
Children leaning against their parents with tired eyes.
Then he saw the soldiers.
Exhausted.
Not weak.
Just worn down.
The kind of tired that came from seeing too much.
Nearby, a small group of refugees sat near a supply wall. Their clothes were worn thin. Several of them looked like they had not slept properly in days.
Naruto slowed slightly.
Mindy noticed them too.
She glanced at the nearby marine before quietly asking,
"Those people… where are they from?"
The marine looked at her briefly before answering.
"Refugees."
Mindy waited, thinking there was more.
The marine continued in the same plain voice, like it was something everybody on the station already knew.
"From worlds the Covenant glassed."
The word made Saeko turn her head slightly.
"Glassed?"
The term sounded strangely familiar.
In a bad way.
The marine answered while they kept walking.
"Orbital plasma bombardment. The Covenant burn a planet from space until the surface turns into glass."
The corridor seemed quieter after that.
Even the sounds of boots on metal felt smaller for a moment.
Naruto looked toward Gaius.
Then Mindy.
Then Saeko.
Soon the others did too.
Because the explanation had landed too closely to something they already knew.
Something Gaius had done before. (ps.refer to chapter 69)
Not the same in purpose.
Not the same in scale.
But close enough that the memory hung in the air between them.
The looks directed at Gaius carried a faint sense of discomfort.
Not fear.
Just the strange realization that the horrifying thing they had just heard about was not entirely unfamiliar to them anymore.
Gaius noticed the looks.
He said nothing.
His face did not change.
He simply kept walking as if the conversation had not touched him at all.
The marine never noticed the tension.
Ahead of the group, Marcus remained alert, though he did not stop them from looking around. He had already decided they were going somewhere safer.
That did not mean he trusted them.
It only meant he was willing to learn before jumping to conclusions.
What he did not know was that they were already being studied from somewhere else.
Far from the corridor, deep inside the station's intelligence systems, ONI analysts were watching live feeds from multiple angles.
One display showed the hangar.
Another showed the escort route.
Another zoomed in on Gaius, with measurements and movement tracking running beside the image.
The room remained quiet except for low voices and the soft sounds of data systems.
"The armored one again," one analyst said.
His screen displayed Gaius standing almost motionless in the hangar while armed marines aimed at him.
The analyst zoomed the image further.
"The armor isn't the main issue," he muttered. "The body underneath matters more."
Another analyst leaned closer.
"Estimated height?"
The first analyst checked the values again before answering.
"Just under ten feet without the armor."
That caused movement across the room.
Several analysts looked up at once.
"That is beyond standard human size."
"Beyond most augmentation ranges too."
One of them brought up Spartan records beside the image.
"Spartans are considered the peak," he said. "This one still looks larger."
Another analyst responded immediately.
"That does not automatically mean stronger."
But he sounded uncertain even as he said it.
They all knew what Spartans represented in the UNSC.
Humanity's greatest soldiers.
And now a giant golden-armored stranger from nowhere was being compared directly to them.
Another analyst enlarged footage of Gaius walking.
The way the floor subtly responded under his weight.
The way he moved without hesitation.
There was no wasted motion.
No sign of strain.
No uncertainty.
"That is not normal," one analyst said quietly.
Someone else pointed toward the footage.
"Biological augmentation?"
"Armor support?"
"Both?"
Another analyst folded his arms.
"Could just be the armor doing most of the work."
"But even if the armor is that advanced," another replied, "the person inside may still not be normal."
Some believed the armor explained everything.
Others did not.
Most of them had already reached the same conclusion.
Whatever Gaius was, he was not human in the ordinary sense.
Not unlike Spartans.
Just far beyond anything they had records for.
Nearby, another screen showed Tony Stark.
His armor folded and retracted in smooth metallic waves toward the glowing reactor in his chest.
The analysts stared.
"Nano technology?" one whispered.
Humanity already possessed limited forms of nanotechnology.
Nothing remotely close to this.
Tony's armor had behaved almost like liquid metal under direct control.
"It's not just advanced," one analyst said. "It's responsive."
Meaning it did not function like ordinary equipment.
It reacted almost like a living system.
The room stayed focused on the footage for several more seconds.
Then one analyst finally voiced the question sitting in everyone's mind.
"Where are they from?"
Silence lingered briefly.
Another analyst answered first.
"A hidden human colony?"
"That far ahead technologically?"
"How would that even be possible without UNSC contact?"
"No known colony can support this level of advancement."
"And if they aren't human?"
That possibility quieted the room.
Behind them, two holographic figures continued watching the discussion.
Margaret Parangosky.
And Dr. Catherine Halsey.
Parangosky stood with the calm, sharp look of someone who had already decided this situation mattered.
Halsey said very little.
Her attention remained mostly on Gaius.
His size.
His armor.
His movement.
The halo behind his head.
The older woman watched him like someone trying to measure a weapon simply by looking at its shadow.
At the same time, Marcus finally brought the group to a secured conference room.
The room was controlled.
But not like a prison.
No chains.
No bars.
No restraints.
Still, security was obvious.
The walls were armored.
Hidden cameras sat in the corners and behind dark panels.
Signal jammers hummed quietly.
Outside, marines stood guard near the doors.
Marcus remained inside with them.
Thankfully the ceiling was high enough that Gaius could enter comfortably without lowering his head.
A large metal table occupied the center of the room.
It was built for command work.
Not comfort.
Nobody sat down.
There were no chairs capable of fitting Gaius properly.
And after the way the station had already reacted to their arrival, sitting down felt too relaxed for the moment anyway.
Marcus moved toward the opposite side of the table.
He was about to begin questioning them when the room speakers clicked softly.
A logo appeared above the table.
ONI.
Marcus froze for a split second.
He recognized it instantly.
So did everyone else.
It seems ONI had been watching everything.
Marcus instinctively stepped back slightly before straightening again, silently giving authority over to whoever was about to appear.
The hologram flickered once.
Then an older woman appeared.
Calm.
Sharp-eyed.
Controlled.
Authority was obvious before she even spoke.
"This conversation is now classified under ONI authority."
Marcus immediately snapped to attention and saluted.
"Yes, Admiral Margaret Parangosky."
Even in the middle of all this, a thin layer of sweat had appeared across his forehead.
Not because he was weak.
Because he understood exactly who now stood before them.
Parangosky was not someone people ignored.
Her holographic gaze moved slowly across the room.
First Marcus.
Then the marines outside.
Then the newcomers.
Even through the hologram, her stare felt sharp and scrutinizing.
Naruto shifted slightly.
Mindy looked a little uncomfortable under the attention.
But Diana remained calm.
So did Tony.
Tanya.
And Gaius.
Parangosky did not ask who they were.
That would have been the wrong first question.
Instead, she went directly to the point.
"Was the incursion intentional?"
She was clearly referring to the portal opening inside the station.
Tony answered before anyone else could.
"No."
His tone was matter-of-fact rather than defensive.
"We were transported randomly. We do not control where we appear."
For a moment, the room remained still.
The answer sounded almost nonsensical.
But Parangosky did not interrupt.
She simply studied him for several seconds.
Then asked the next question.
"Do you represent a government or military authority?"
The room became quiet.
Not because the question was strange.
Because it mattered.
The others immediately understood that.
Naruto glanced toward Tony.
Then toward Gaius.
Mindy did the same.
Diana's expression stayed calm, though her attention sharpened.
Saeko remained silent.
Her eyes shifted toward Gaius as well.
Because among all of them, only one truly fit the question.
Tony was a genius engineer in powerful armor.
Naruto was a ninja.
Diana was powerful, but not a ruler in this context.
Saeko held influence and leadership in her city, but not through an organized military structure. Much of the infected population in her world had already been cleared, and many people listened to her because of who she was and her connection to Gaius, but that was still far from commanding a true government or military force.
Tanya was a soldier.
A dangerous one.
But still a soldier serving under another nation rather than ruling one herself.
Mindy was simply Mindy.
A teenage girl with a special abilities.
But Gaius,
Gaius was different.
He ruled worlds.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
The authority he carried went far beyond anything the others possessed here.
He belonged to a galaxy-wide human Imperium.
If necessary, he could command armies numbering in the billions.
Entire star systems.
Entire populations.
And everyone standing beside him understood exactly what kind of authority Gaius possessed. They had seen the scale of the Imperium with their own eyes. They knew how vast it truly was, and how much power rested behind a single command from someone like him.
Parangosky waited patiently.
Nobody answered immediately.
Marcus remained perfectly still near the opposite side of the table.
Even the marines outside the room had gone quiet.
The atmosphere inside the chamber felt tense in a different way now.
Finally, Gaius moved.
Slowly and calmly, he turned his helm toward the hologram of Margaret Parangosky.
His expression did not change, though it remained hidden behind the golden helm.
There was no intimidation in his posture.
No arrogance.
No deliberate attempt to dominate the room.
But his mere presence already did.
The halo behind his head glowed faintly in the dim conference room.
For a brief moment, nobody spoke.
Then Gaius finally answered.
"Yes."
The single word settled heavily across the room.
Parangosky's eyes narrowed slightly.
Not surprised.
Interested.
Around the room, the reactions were far more visible.
Naruto blinked.
Mindy instinctively straightened.
Saeko quietly crossed her arms.
Tony glanced sideways toward Gaius but said nothing.
Tanya simply observed the room carefully, watching how the UNSC personnel reacted to the answer.
Marcus felt the pressure in the room increase immediately.
Because that response changed everything.
This was no longer first contact with a group of unusual strangers.
This was now potential first contact with another human military power.
One powerful enough that ONI itself had already taken control of the situation.
Parangosky remained silent for several seconds before asking the next question.
"State the size of your controlled territory."
~~~
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