Nat and I leaped to our feet and rushed for the door. Patrick muttered, “Nerds,” and followed more slowly.

The Covenant fleet was indeed impressive, although I had some trouble judging the scale. At least fifty ships were visible at various distances out to and including barely, so there could very well have been more ships too far away to see. Interestingly, although every ship was built around a basic spheroid shape, there were enough variations to be confusing. And most of the hulls displayed various accretions and accessories that could have been sensors or weapons, or TV antennas for all I knew.

“How big is that one dead center, Sheldon?”

“Seven hundred and eighty-two meters along its maximum length. It is the Gennan heavy cruiser Vongerel, which translates as Resolute. The battleships and dreadnoughts would be larger, but I’m surprised to see even a cruiser present on what should be considered a police action.”

“Wow, that’s big,” Patrick commented. “I’m a little surprised they didn’t do the larger inside thing.”

“They did,” Sheldon replied. “The inside is more than five kilometers along the same dimension.”

“Holy shit,” was all Patrick could say.

As we watched, the Vongerel grew larger in the center monitor, until the edges of the cruiser disappeared off to the sides and it became an approaching wall. In the center of the view, a well-lit rectangular opening made its presence known with an alternating blue and green frame.

Sheldon floated the Halo in through the docking bay hatch and settled to the deck. “We have arrived,” he announced. “Please follow the guideway to the appropriate airlock.” As always, the soft-rose ribbon on the wall indicated our path.

As Nat and I reached the bottom of the airlock steps, a delegation of Gen came through a hatch on the closest wall. At seven feet or more in height, they were impressive and a little intimidating, especially since all but one were carrying some kind of rifle-like weapon. And it turned out living Gen didn’t look quite as much like squirrels. I couldn’t decide what they did resemble, but whatever it was, it wasn’t herbivorous. I’d never thought to check Alaric’s teeth, but there was a definite predator vibe.

The lead Gen was wearing the same translation necklaces we’d used, I noticed. The leader stopped and spoke, or at least moved his lips. The necklace said, “Greetings. I am Commander Nond. Which of you is Primary?”

“Primary means in charge,” Sheldon said into my cling-on.

“I guess I am,” I said. I turned to glare at Nat, who had started to step forward. “I’m the person who started this whole mess, so it’s my responsibility.”

Nond made a sideways motion with his head. “That was a nod,” Sheldon added helpfully.