Chapter 335 — The Secrets of the Covenant
The battle for Cascade was over.
The last surviving Covenant vessels had either fled the system or been destroyed while attempting to escape.
What had entered Cascade's skies as a force of forty-one warships had been reduced to scattered wreckage and a handful of retreating ships.
The Covenant had come with overwhelming numbers and the intention of erasing the world.
Instead, they had been broken.
Their fleet had been torn apart piece by piece once their command structure collapsed. Ships that had once moved as a single force were isolated and hunted down. Their communications became chaotic, their formations disintegrated, and whatever confidence they had entered the system with was gone.
By the end, there was no organized assault left.
Only survivors trying to escape.
Cascade had survived.
The defensive batteries were still smoking from continuous fire. Wreckage drifted through the atmosphere, while burning fragments of Covenant vessels fell from the sky.
For the people below, the battle was over.
But there was still one thing that needed to be dealt with.
The body of the Prophet of Regret.
~~~
Some time later, Gaius stood inside one of the secured rooms of Cascade.
His armor remained on, though his helmet had been removed and rested nearby.
On the examination table lay the body of the alien leader.
The Prophet of Regret.
His neck was crushed, the damage severe enough to leave no doubt about how he had died.
Tony stood beside the table, staring down at the corpse.
"So, what are we going to do with the body of the alien leader?"
Gaius looked at him.
"We are here to obtain intelligence about the Covenant."
Tony looked back at the dead Prophet.
"Get intelligence?"
His eyes narrowed.
"How?"
Gaius answered without hesitation.
"I will eat this xenos's brain."
Tony stared at him.
For a moment, he thought he had heard wrong.
"...Eat his brain?"
Gaius nodded.
"Yes."
Tony continued staring at him.
"You're serious."
"Completely."
Tony glanced back at Regret's crushed neck, then at Gaius.
"Okay. I have a lot of questions."
He paused, studying Gaius for another moment.
"It seems I haven't understood you enough yet."
Gaius explained.
"We possess an implanted organ called the Omophagea. It allows us to consume the genetic material of another being and gain fragments of its memories."
Tony raised an eyebrow.
"Damn. Then wouldn't eating other parts of the body give you something too? And if you eat the brain, would the effect be stronger?"
Gaius nodded.
"Yes."
His eyes moved toward Regret.
"That is why I will eat his brain."
Tony stared at the corpse again.
"I see."
He looked back at Gaius.
"Then why am I here? Do you want me to cook the brain or something?"
Gaius looked at him.
"No."
Tony waited.
"I want you to record everything I am about to tell you."
He glanced once more at the dead Prophet.
"Once I have extracted the information, I will leave this universe and return to my own."
Tony nodded slowly.
"I see."
Then he snapped his fingers.
"JARVIS, did you hear what Gaius said?"
"Yes, sir," JARVIS replied. "I am now recording everything that is about to happen."
Gaius turned toward the corpse.
His right hand was covered by an auramite gauntlet. Unlike the massive power fist he carried into battle, there was no oversized weapon attached to it. Instead, he held a scalpel in his hand.
He stepped toward the examination table.
Tony watched closely.
Gaius placed the scalpel against Regret's scalp and began cutting with precise, deliberate movements.
The flesh parted cleanly.
Blood welled immediately and ran down the side of the Prophet's head.
Gaius opened the skull and reached inside.
His armored fingers sank into the soft tissue.
He closed his hand around the brain and pulled.
It came free with a wet, heavy sound, blood and strands of tissue clinging to it as it left the skull.
Tony instinctively took a small step back.
"That's disgusting."
Gaius barely acknowledged him.
He brought the brain to his mouth.
His teeth sank into the soft mass.
He tore off a large piece and swallowed it.
Then he took another bite.
The rest disappeared in the same manner, consumed without hesitation until nothing remained in his hand.
Gaius wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his gauntlet.
Tony stared at him.
"...You really weren't joking."
Gaius gave him a brief look.
"No."
Then the memories hit him.
At first they came as flashes.
A face.
A voice.
A room.
A battlefield.
Then more came.
And more.
The Omophagea opened the floodgates.
Ninety-one years of Regret's life poured into Gaius's mind.
His earliest memories.
His upbringing.
His rise through the San'Shyuum hierarchy.
Political struggles.
Religious ceremonies.
Private meetings.
The Hierarchs.
The Prophets.
The Covenant's history.
The Great Journey.
Humanity.
The war.
Worlds conquered.
Worlds burned.
Fleet movements.
Military decisions.
Secrets.
Knowledge accumulated over almost a century of existence.
Gaius remained completely still.
There was no pain.
No disorientation.
No struggle to contain it.
Ninety-one years of memories were insignificant compared with the far greater span of Gaius's own life. His mind simply absorbed them, sorting through Regret's memories and retaining what mattered.
Faces, places, conversations and events passed through his consciousness.
He separated useful intelligence from the countless insignificant details of another being's life.
Tony watched him carefully.
"How is it?"
Gaius opened his eyes fully.
"Fine."
Tony blinked.
"That's it?"
Gaius looked at him.
"I have the information."
Time passed.
Tony listened as Gaius recounted everything he had learned from Regret's memories. JARVIS recorded every word that came from his mouth.
Gaius explained the Covenant's hierarchy, its military structure, its religion, the Great Journey, and the reason humanity had been targeted with such hatred.
He also revealed what Regret knew about humanity and the Forerunners.
Some of the information concerned matters Tony had never even considered.
By the time Gaius finished, JARVIS had recorded hours of intelligence.
Gaius finally rose from his seat.
His armor had been cleaned, with no trace of the blood that had covered his gauntlet earlier.
"I have told you everything of importance."
Then he walked out of the room.
Tony remained seated.
He stared at the recording display in silence.
His expression slowly changed.
Then he laughed.
"The Covenant..."
Tony shook his head.
"The Covenant are a big joke."
He laughed again.
"Hahahaha!"
JARVIS remained silent as Tony continued laughing at the information Gaius had given him.
Whatever the Covenant believed about the Great Journey, humanity, and the Forerunners, Tony had just learned enough to realize how deeply wrong the situation was.
~~~
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