Chapter 242: Welcome to the Pan-Galactic Megacorp! You Only Have One Choice!
At this very moment, far away in the center of New Alexandria, stood the towering Olympus Tower—a landmark structure serving as the UNSC's ground headquarters and the central hub of ONI's Intelligence Division.
On one of the upper floors of the Olympus Tower, an angry roar echoed throughout the executive offices:
"Those cowardly bastards from ONI! The moment trouble hits, they shrink back! What the hell is the UNSC feeding these freeloading scumbags for?!"
A high-ranking UNSC officer in a gray uniform slammed his desk with a thunderous bang, snarling viciously as he berated the ONI combat units on the front line.
Watching the real-time combat footage transmitted by a Smart AI, Martin O'Donnell—already seething with frustration—completely lost it:
"Those damned bastards! All they do is fake compliance while doing nothing! Standing around outside and firing potshots—who are they trying to fool?!"
"By the time backup shows up, those damned rebels will be long gone. Goddamn it... fuck!!"
And yet, even as the UNSC's Director of Operations, Martin O'Donnell could do little more than rant.
After all, the Operations Division and Intelligence Division were separate entities. While Operations could issue orders to ONI's special forces, they had no authority to punish them directly.
If he really wanted to discipline those useless soldiers, it would backfire on him—because ONI would never let one of their own be scapegoated.
You don't beat the dog without checking who its owner is, right?
[Director O'Donnell, please remain calm. Our priority right now is to stabilize the situation on Reach and prevent the enemy from launching coordinated attacks elsewhere.]
At that moment, Shiver—the Smart AI overseeing Reach—spoke up with a calm, measured reminder.
"Calm? How the hell do you expect me to stay calm?!"
Martin O'Donnell was fuming. He didn't care much whether other regions had suffered terror attacks—but Dr. Halsey, from the research facility, had been kidnapped. That was a massive problem.
"Shiver, how did those rebels find out about Halsey's existence? Don't tell me they've already gotten wind of the Orion Phase II program?"
"And you—what the hell were you doing?! Why didn't you issue a warning in time?!"
O'Donnell was so consumed by rage that he lashed out at anyone in sight—including the cold, logical Smart AI standing before him.
But rage aside, O'Donnell hadn't completely lost his mind. As the UNSC's Operations Director, he could immediately tell this had been a premeditated operation.
Because this kidnapping had gone far too smoothly.
First off, how did the rebels get Dr. Halsey's personal information? Out of all the researchers at that facility, they'd gone straight for her.
If that didn't scream inside job, O'Donnell didn't know what did.
Then there was Shiver—the Smart AI that had never made a single operational error—yet had somehow failed to react throughout the entire incident. It didn't issue a single alert until a full hour after the attack.
For a fleeting moment, Martin O'Donnell even suspected Shiver itself might be the mole.
Despite O'Donnell's near-hysterical accusations, Shiver displayed no emotional response, replying instead with clinical precision:
[The enemy employed a highly novel hacking protocol that disabled my surveillance systems for exactly one hour.]
[I've temporarily classified this hacking method as the ICE Infiltration Protocol.]
As it finished speaking, Shiver pulled up the only image it had managed to capture before being shut down.
The blurry image showed a massive figure clad in blue armor, holding a weapon with its back to the camera. Several other giants appeared at the bottom, their heads just barely visible.
But from such a vague snapshot, identifying the attackers or determining their origin was flat-out impossible.
Even Shiver itself was surprised. After being locked out of the system by the ICE Infiltration Protocol, it had taken a full hour to escape the data labyrinth.
Under normal circumstances, no standard rebel faction could possibly develop a virus capable of disabling a Smart AI's surveillance network.
So the idea that this was just another colonial rebel group? That was now very much in doubt.
Staring at the image on the holo-display, O'Donnell's frown deepened. These figures were huge—absurdly so.
Based on the nearby objects in the frame, he estimated the soldiers were at least 2.5 meters tall—possibly even 3 meters.
There was no way rebels, with their pitiful resources, could've produced a squad of genetically enhanced super-soldiers. Unless...
A chilling thought struck him: what if these attackers weren't rebels at all?
What if they were aliens?
It was the only explanation that made any damn sense.
Advanced laser sniper rifles. A hacking protocol capable of evading Smart AI detection. Giant warriors with impossible physiques...
This was starting to look like something only an alien race could pull off.
[Director O'Donnell, here's what we can currently confirm: the enemy had extensive planning, coordination, and technology on par with—or surpassing—our elite forces.]
Shiver calmly elaborated:
[You might suspect an internal leak or a mole, but I can assure you that every single individual involved in the Orion Phase II project has been under my close surveillance.]
[So I guarantee you—there are no internal traitors within the UNSC.]
As a next-generation Smart AI, Shiver had no knowledge of AI Loki or the rogue AI Council—unaware that, far off on Harvest and other planets, several AIs had already defected and joined the Pan-Galactic Megacorp.
O'Donnell simply scoffed at Shiver's assurances. No mole? Then how the hell did the enemy know to kidnap Halsey?
Out of all the scientists in the facility, they went straight for her—that couldn't have happened without inside help!
No matter how hard he tried, O'Donnell couldn't make sense of the truth. The stress was tearing him apart.
The Orion Phase II project had been funded through what little remained of the UNSC's dwindling operations budget—a rare genetic development initiative.
If this whole thing fell apart, his position as Operations Director would be finished.
Worse yet, he might find himself dragged before a military tribunal... and possibly shot.
"There's a mole… there has to be a mole!!"
O'Donnell flatly rejected Shiver's judgment. That's the difference between humans and AIs.
AIs rely solely on data and probability to analyze a situation. But when key intel is missing, they lack the intuition to make leaps of logic.
For O'Donnell, insisting there was a mole wasn't just logical—it was strategic. It was the only narrative that would shift the high command's attention toward finding a scapegoat, and away from punishing him.
"Notify the governor of Reach immediately. Then get in touch with all UNSC department heads and lock down every port on the planet. Mobilize both the Operations Division and ONI for a full planetary sweep."
"Also, get the Navy to pull the jump records from Epsilon Eridani over the past several days. I want every ship in that system under surveillance!"
"…!"
O'Donnell rattled off a long list of departments and orders, demanding their full cooperation. But recovering Dr. Halsey wasn't his only priority.
He was also spreading the blame around—making sure the fallout would be shared evenly.
That way, when the reckoning came, everyone would be pointing fingers in every direction, and his own head would be less likely to roll.
That's the real job of a Director.
Screwing up isn't fatal. What's fatal is sitting around taking all the blame while doing nothing to protect yourself.
If you get your hands dirty, you might as well make sure everyone else's hands are dirty too. Once everyone's contaminated, command can't possibly fire all of them.
And in the end, it's always the "temps" who take the fall.
Now that the disaster had struck and someone had to be held responsible, Martin O'Donnell had only one goal:
To make sure he wasn't the one left holding the bag. A few symbolic punishments, a little performative guilt, and a toast or two—and that would be that.
---
"Yes, Supervisor!"
AI Shiver nodded in affirmation.
Even without explicit orders from Martin O'Donnell, it already knew what needed to be done.
After all, the upper echelon of the UNSC regarded Phase II of the Orion Project as a crucial measure for quelling the insurgency.
With so many outer colonies, Navy forces simply couldn't spare the manpower to personally crush every rebel group—especially after the assassination of rebel leader Gerald Mergi And in 2502.
Since then, the remaining rebels had shifted to guerrilla tactics. Without any central leadership, they were like flies—an irritating, elusive nuisance plaguing UNSC colonies.
That's why the military was so desperate for powerful Spartan-II soldiers to hunt down these scattered insurgents.
While the senior officers in the Olympic Tower were issuing a series of rapid commands, three Falcon shuttles were streaking toward low Earth orbit.
BOOM—!!
Microscopic particles in the atmosphere battered against the shuttle's hull, producing a sharp, persistent rattle.
Inside, facing a group of towering warriors who spoke in human language despite their inhuman size, Dr. Halsey couldn't help but speak up:
"You're not rebels. They don't have the skills—or the equipment—you possess."
From the moment she was abducted, Catherine Halsey had been closely observing these unusual "bandits."
Though she still didn't know their exact goal, she was certain they weren't planning to kill her.
That confidence gave her the courage to ask questions.
However, when she spoke, both Leader and the Astartes warriors beside him remained silent, ignoring her entirely.
Seeing that they refused to respond, Halsey reluctantly fell quiet, resigned to awaiting whatever unknown fate lay ahead.
Soon after, the Falcon shuttles broke through Reach's atmosphere and docked with an Endless-class carrier in low orbit.
As soon as Catherine Halsey was brought aboard, the long-hidden Endless fleet initiated a slipspace jump.
In an instant, they vanished from the Epsilon Eridani system.
Ten minutes later—just ten minutes too late—the lockdown order from Reach's planetary headquarters was officially issued.
Only then did the UNSC Navy shut down the ports, ordering all forces to search incoming and outgoing vessels, and dispatching wanted orders to all cruisers patrolling Epsilon Eridani's orbital routes.
But by then, the fleet was long gone, taking Halsey far from the reach of any UNSC enforcement.
Inside the control room of the Endless-class carrier—
Having now been moved into the starship's inner structure, Halsey stood on the command bridge, watching through the forward display as the massive ship executed a spacefold.
Under the propulsion of its faster-than-light engines, Halsey felt as if space and time were being torn apart before her eyes—filled with bizarre colors and distorted lines.
Then, in the blink of an eye, the carrier decelerated and continued onward toward Harvest at subluminal speed.
In this completely unfamiliar star system, there was no longer any sign of the UNSC Navy.
It was in that moment that Halsey finally understood—the ones who'd taken her were likely not human at all, but a highly advanced civilization disguised as such. Their technology far surpassed the UNSC's!
After all, humanity's current civilization could only perform FTL jumps using tiered space-layer methods. But this fleet's folding technique was clearly a completely new form of slipspace travel!
Shaken but still composed, Halsey scanned her surroundings carefully.
Apart from the towering Astartes warriors clad in full powered armor, she also noticed numerous personnel in black uniforms. Unlike the warriors, these individuals looked entirely human.
"Who are you people? Why did you bring me here?"
Unable to hold back any longer, Halsey demanded answers.
She simply couldn't figure out what kind of force they belonged to.
"Hello, my name is Chisaji Fox"
At that moment, a researcher stepped forward with several scientists in tow and gave Halsey a polite introduction.
Seeing that this person was also human eased Halsey's fear and suspicion somewhat.
Chisaji Fox then guided her toward the central control console and began explaining.
"Please follow me, Dr. Halsey. Before you speak with our Supreme Executive Officer, allow me to briefly introduce our corporation's philosophy and achievements."
As he finished speaking, Chisaji Fox raised his hand and activated a holographic display, presenting the ongoing construction efforts and scale of operations on Harvest.
In an instant, two enormous shipyard facilities—one on the surface and one in orbit—appeared before Halsey's eyes.
What was once a quiet agrarian world had seemingly transformed overnight into an industrialized hub of military production. Dozens of escort frigates lined the docks.
Halsey was stunned.
And when she learned that all of this had been built in just three months as a frontline base by the LA Megacorp, the young genius scientist felt as though the world was spinning.
She simply couldn't believe any human faction could achieve such a miraculous feat.
" LA Megacorp"…? What conglomerate does that belong to? Halsey had never even heard of it!
As she stood there, dazed and questioning everything she thought she knew, Chisaji Fox continued to operate the console, pulling up more data.
"Dr. Halsey, this is our corporate profile. You're free to explore it yourself—yes, just wave your hand to switch screens."
Encouraged, Halsey immediately began interacting with the display—
> LA Megacorp A mega-corporation spanning the multiverse, dedicated to constructing an interuniversal trade network, uniting countless civilizations under the principle of "equivalent exchange."
> Currently conquered parallel worlds: spectre, Pacific Rim, Edge of Tomorrow…
> Core technological breakthroughs: The Matrix, Gene-Seed, FTL Drives, Antimatter Tech, Utopia Arcologies, Matter Decompressors, Scientific Nexus, Moon of War…!
…
As time passed, Halsey absorbed more and more about the LA Megacorp—its origins, its meteoric rise, and its current status as a multiversal corporate empire.
And all of it, every milestone, could be traced back to one man: Li Ang.
At this point, Catherine Halsey felt like she was dreaming—a surreal, impossible dream.
The theory of parallel universes had remained purely speculative until now, with little to no supporting evidence. How could something like this truly exist?
And when she learned that the corporation's "Stargate" was the key to traversing parallel worlds, Halsey felt an irresistible urge to join them and study these incredible technologies.
For a scientist like her, the dream of discovering truth—of glimpsing the infinite—was a noble pursuit worth dying for.
"Did your boss bring me here because of the Spartan augmentation project I proposed?"
Catherine Halsey wasn't some naive fool. If they had gone through so much trouble to abduct her, it was clearly because she held something they valued.
"Maybe so. But that's a question only our boss can answer."
Chisaji Fox chuckled. Just then, the hyperspace communication console lit up, indicating a successful connection with the Myriad Realms Base of operations across universes.
With a final tap of the controls, the bridge completed the connection between two parallel worlds.
And for the first time, Halsey laid eyes on Li Ang.
He was nothing like she'd imagined—not a gray-haired, wrinkled man in his sixties, but a striking young figure, no more than twenty-five at most.
Though not conventionally handsome, Li Ang had a stern and commanding presence—a sharp edge in his eyes and a quiet, overwhelming confidence.
He looked like he was born to lead.
And for a true leader, it's not about appearances—it's about presence. People with that kind of aura stand out in any crowd, like a beacon of light guiding those around them.
Li Ang innate charisma was what enabled him to sit atop the LA Megacorp, commanding the loyalty of so many.
"Dr. Halsey, welcome to the LA Megacorp."
Standing at his own command console, flanked by Lucy,and others, Li Ang looked straight at the screen and spoke.
Before Halsey could even recover from her shock, his voice rang out again:
"I believe Chisaji Fox has already briefed you. Now, you face a single choice."
"Join the LA Megacorp—and help me develop the next generation of Spartan-II warriors."
Li Ang always prized efficiency. When talent came into his orbit, there were only two outcomes: either you contributed through loyal work…
…or you got turned into fertilizer in a grave.
These days, though, the corporation had a different punishment for criminals, slaves, and enemies: they were plugged into the Matrix—to serve as living batteries.
---
(Show your support and read more chapters on my Patreon: [email protected]/psychopet. Thank you for your support!)