The refugee convoy departed several hours later.
By then, the station they had been living in was already fading behind them, becoming smaller through the transport's window until it was just another shape among many in the dark of space. The convoy moved as a single organized body, dozens of vessels traveling together in steady lanes. It did not look rushed. It did not look confused. It looked controlled, and that alone said a lot about how hard humanity had learned to hold itself together.
Military frigates kept their distance, watching over the convoy like patient guards. Smaller patrol craft moved around the transports in slow, constant circles, never staying in one place for too long. They looked less like escorts and more like watchdogs. Nobody on the convoy was alone. Nobody was unobserved.
Marcus remained with the group as their liaison.
He stayed with them even after the agreent was made, which gave the arrangent a more official feeling. He was not just escorting them through the station. Until ONI decided how to handle the situation, Marcus was the one responsible for dealing with them directly.
Naruto stood near one of the observation windows with his arms resting behind his head.
"So this is the ship we're riding?"
Marcus, who was nearby and keeping an eye on them all, gave a simple nod.
"It's a civilian transport," he said. "Repurposed for evacuation support."
Naruto looked at the seats, the overhead lighting, the crowded rows of passengers, and the bags packed around everybody's feet. The transport was full. Refugees sat together quietly, many with only a few belongings left. So had crates. So had small bags. So had nothing but the clothes they were wearing.
A few people slept with their heads against the windows or on folded arms. Others stared quietly at the military broadcasts playing without sound on the screens above them. A child clutched a small toy while leaning against a tired-looking mother. An old man sat alone with a blanket over his knees and a distant look in his eyes.
The whole place felt tired.
Not panicked.
Not desperate in the loud way.
Just worn down by too much loss.
Naruto's usual energy faded a little as he looked around. There was no joke in his face now. He was just watching.
Tony sat nearby with his laptop open again, his attention moving across the limited UNSC information Marcus had allowed him to see. After a while, Tony let out a quiet breath.
"Your logistics situation is worse than I thought."
Marcus glanced over, not looking surprised.
"We lost a lot of worlds," he said simply.
That answer made Tony quiet for a mont.
He already knew the Covenant were bad. He had already seen the maps. But hearing it said so plainly, in a ship full of refugees, made the problem feel bigger. More real.
Not long after, the transport's speakers crackled to life.
"Slipspace transition in thirty seconds. All passengers remain secured."
Naruto looked up imdiately.
"Slipspace?"
It was the sa term he had been hearing ever since they arrived here.
Mindy leaned back in her seat nearby, one arm resting over the back.
"It should be how they travel in space."
That was enough to get Naruto interested again. After seeing how Gaius traveled through space in his own universe with the Warp drive, he wanted to know whether Slipspace worked the sa way here.
The lights inside the ship dimd slightly, and the room seed to settle. The conversations quieted. People who had already been sitting still did so even more carefully. Outside the viewport, the dark of space seed to shift in a strange way. Blue distortions began to bloom ahead of the convoy, thin at first, then spreading like ripples across the black.
The transport lurched.
Not violently.
Just enough to make Naruto blink and grip the seat beside him for a mont.
Then the stars outside stretched in a strange line, as if space itself had suddenly bent. Blue light swallowed the view beyond the window. It flowed around the convoy like a current, surrounding the ships and carrying them sowhere else.
Naruto stared at it with real fascination.
"…Okay, that's actually cool."
Saeko sat calmly with her cup in hand, watching the blue distortion outside with a softer, more thoughtful expression.
"It feels safer than Gaius' way of traveling."
Tony gave a small nod.
"It seems like they're traveling through another dinsion," he said. "So yeah, probably safer. Gaius' universe travels through the Warp, and that place has daemons in it."
Gaius remained completely motionless through the entire transition.
He did not seem unsettled by the strange movent through another dinsion. Outwardly, he was calm. But inwardly, his thoughts were already turning over what he had just learned.
Slipspace.
A travel thod outside the Warp.
Sothing stable enough that humanity here used it as the main way to cross interstellar distances.
It was impossible not to notice the value of that.
If a similar system could be brought back to the Imperium, if it could ever truly replace Warp travel, then it would be a major thing. Less dependence on the Warp. Less danger from daemonic interference. Less madness. Less corruption. He did not trust the idea completely yet, but he was already thinking about it. That was the kind of mind he had.
Tony glanced out the window as well, his interest rising.
"This slipspace," he asked casually, "how does it work?"
Marcus looked at the glowing display for a mont before answering.
"In simple terms, it's another dinsion," he said. "Our ships use Shaw-Fujikawa drives to enter it, travel through compressed space-ti, then return to normal space sowhere else."
Naruto blinked.
"So… space shortcut?"
Marcus gave a small nod.
"More or less."
The holographic map on the ship shifted slightly while Marcus explained further. Strange routes and lines appeared and moved through the display.
"Distances behave differently inside slipspace," he continued. "Without it, interstellar travel would take decades or centuries."
Tony folded his arms lightly.
"And the Covenant are better at it than you."
Marcus nodded.
"Much better. Faster travel. Better precision. More advanced navigation."
His voice hardened a little.
"That advantage alone has cost humanity countless worlds."
Tanya studied the map closely.
"And navigation errors?"
Marcus answered at once.
"Dangerous. Bad calculations can leave ships lost, damaged, or erging in the wrong location entirely."
He pointed toward one part of the display.
"Gravity also interferes with transitions. Large celestial bodies create mass shadows in slipspace. Ships usually jump from a safe distance away from planets or stars."
Tony looked mildly interested now, like the subject had beco more technical than he first expected.
"And your AIs handle most of the calculations."
"Yes," Marcus said. "Smart AIs significantly improve travel accuracy."
Gaius heard that word clearly.
AI.
He did not change expression, but his thoughts sharpened again.
He had no special love for artificial minds. In his own universe, he knew enough to be wary. Still, he was not going to reject the value of slipspace because of that. The non-Warp travel alone was worth serious attention.
Hours later, the convoy finally erged from slipspace.
The blue distortions vanished.
The darkness outside changed.
And Cascade appeared ahead of them.
Naruto was the first to step closer to the window again.
"Oh."
The planet filled the view.
Blue oceans curved around green landmasses. Clouds drifted over the surface in broad white lines. Even from orbit, bright city lights could be seen scattered across the night side and along the edge of the day side.
Around the planet floated orbital defense platforms, military stations, and dozens of UNSC ships moving along their lanes in disciplined formation.
The whole scene looked busy and heavily defended.
It did not look peaceful.
It did not look safe.
But it did look alive.
Mindy stared out quietly.
"This place is huge…"
"It's still functioning," Marcus said.
There was a strange kind of pride in his voice when he said it.
Even after everything humanity had lost, there were still worlds that remained standing. Worlds that kept moving. Worlds that refused to die.
As the convoy descended toward the planet, Naruto noticed even more below the surface of the view.
Massive industrial zones.
Long highways stretching across cities.
Space elevators reaching toward orbit like giant steel lines.
Air traffic moving constantly through the sky.
Military checkpoints near the landing sectors.
It was a heavily ard world.
Tony looked out for a mont before speaking quietly.
"Now I see why ONI picked this place."
Tanya nodded once.
"Stable infrastructure. Strong defenses. Enough distance from the frontline."
"And enough surveillance," Tony added.
Marcus pretended not to hear that last part.
The transport slowly descended toward one of the large military-civilian spaceports near the edge of a wide coastal city. A mont later, the ship settled onto the landing platform with a heavy chanical hum.
Inside, the lights shifted back into normal brightness.
A calm chanical voice ca over the speakers.
"Welco to Cascade Colonial Spaceport. Refugee processing lanes will begin shortly. Please remain seated until instructed otherwise."
Outside the viewport, the spaceport stretched across the coastline like a city built for ships.
Massive landing pads reached toward the ocean.
Cargo cranes moved constantly from one ship to another.
Rows of UNSC aircraft lifted into the sky one after another.
Even from inside the transport, the distant sound of engines and machinery still reached them faintly through the hull.
Naruto stared at everything with open interest.
"This place is busy."
"Colonies usually are," Marcus said while standing. "Especially now."
The transport doors finally opened with a long hydraulic hiss.
The noise outside hit them imdiately.
Voices.
Announcents.
Bootsteps.
Engines.
Cargo movers.
Only then did the full size of the spaceport beco clear.
Refugees were being guided into lines by UNSC personnel. dical teams stood nearby with portable scanners. Overhead, cargo containers moved along rail systems.
Everything was organized and controlled.
Not because the situation was calm.
Because nobody had ti to waste.
Naruto looked upward when several fighters roared across the sky above the port.
"Sabre fighters," Marcus explained automatically after noticing Naruto looking.
Mindy let out a low whistle.
"This entire planet feels ard."
"It is," Tanya said calmly, watching the visible anti-air defenses around the port. "This colony is preparing for eventual attack."
Marcus did not deny it.
Because he knew it was true.
Every world now had to think that way.
Not just frontline colonies.
Even places like Cascade had to prepare for the possibility that the Covenant could appear soday.
As they walked through the spaceport under escort, more civilians noticed them.
Mostly Gaius.
People stared.
So openly.
Others tried not to.
A giant armored man standing in a gold suit of armor would always draw attention, no matter how carefully ONI tried to manage things.
A small refugee child pointed toward Gaius while whispering sothing to her mother.
The mother quickly lowered the child's hand and gave an apologetic smile, as if trying to avoid offense.
Gaius did not react.
~~~
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