: Cortana was quick to admonish the Covenant in H:CE, but how did she feel
: about the way Chief and Cortana subjected mankind to another evil which is
: only matched/surpassed by the flood? Probably not her proudest moment –
: granted empathy was not her strong suit, but maybe she would cut the
: Covies some slack should had gotten another shot at it.

The Covenant did screw up on a potential galactic level of extermination. Chief and Cortana released someone so powerful that he could pick Chief up with his mind, throw him around, and really do whatever he wanted, but instead mostly floated about in a giant ball before getting defeated by (Cortana) light and a grenade. Oh man, what a bad guy there. Watch out galaxy. Chief, you stupid fool, you released a nobody who really only sort of threatens humanity and is nothing compared to the Flood and was actually pretty much destroyed by the Flood in a previous lifetime along with the rest of the Forerunner. Way to go Chief.