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Revolution 2 Return of the Forerunner by Gruntkiller



Revolution 2 Return of the Forerunner: Part 1 - Discovery
Date: 22 October 2002, 11:22 pm

      It has been 150 years now since John savior of the galaxy died but with his death new life arose, hundreds of new technologies were discovered and hand in hand the covenant and the humans conquered the galaxy establishing hundreds of new colonies and restoring many destroyed ones. Earth was a major population base now for covenant and humans.

But in more recent years a rumor arose among the religious community, strange anomalies traveling through deep space that could never be explained and a whisper of a nameless evil coming to reclaim its name. Many said that the old covenant prophecies were coming true, that they would join their enemies and together be sacrificed to the Gods.

The outskirts of the Kay system

      A long arrow shaped cruiser named the Kang sped through space on a routine patrol of the area; it was a fairly old combination of covenant and human technology, the only real up to date item upon it was the sensor system.

      "Report," said captain Martin as he smoked a pipe, he was wearing a gray uniform much like the old UNSC issue, along its left side their were several medals all of which he had won in battles against rebels.

      "Same as last time nothing," said the grunt intelligence officer, "What do they expect to find on the outskirts of deep space anyways."

      "Not a clue theirs nothing surrounding this system for 3 light-years," replied Martin.

      "Wait im picking up an abnormal energy signal coming from sector WEH-156, may I suggest we investigate," said the intelligence officer.

      "Ok its not like we have anything better to do," said Martin.

      The Kang quickly changed direction and sped off to sector WEH-156. A half hour passed without any significant event but that was all about to change.

      "Sir were closing in upon the source we are within visual range," said the officer.

      "Ok, good put it on screen," said Martin as he breathed out smoke.

      On the screen their seemed to be a small ship shaped like a cigar. It reflected light but seemed to be dead in space.

      "What the hell is it," said Martin, "I want all weapons online it may be some sort of rebel ship."

      "Sir were receiving an incoming signal," said the communications officer.

      Suddenly the comm. channel began to let off a strange sound and then their was a deep voice that seemed to commands a lot of power, "We are the Forerunner, we have come to reclaim what is ours, all who oppose us shall be destroyed." Then the comm. channel closed.

      "O, Crap," said captain Martin, "open up that comm. channel."

      "Sir I can't trace the channel its almost as if it never existed," said the comm. officer.

      "Sir I'm picking up a energy build up," said the intelligence officer.

      "All shields online prepare to take damage," yelled out Martin as he grabbed onto a nearby rail.

      On the screen two neon blue bolts left the Forerunner ship and sped towards the Kang.

      "Sir impact in 5," yelled out the intelligence officer.

      The two bolts passed straight through the Kang's shields and slammed into the ships side almost immediately destroying it. Inside captain Martin and the entire crew were vaporized as the bolts exploded, the only thing that survived the blast was the distress beacon, which floated out into space and began to transmit a SOS signal to the Kay system.

Earth

      Admiral Johnson sat at his desk sorting out some paper work for a newly commissioned cruiser. His hair was graying along the sides and his face was weathered. Suddenly a phone in front of him rang, disturbing his train of thought, he picked up the receiver and put it to his ear.

      "Hello," said Johnson.

      "Sir you have to get down to conference room A5 immediately," said an elite on the other end of the line.

      "What is this about," asked admiral Johnson.

      "You will be told when you get down here," said the elite who then hung up.

      Johnson got up from his chair and walked out the door to the conference rooms. As he walked down the halls he stared at the pictures of ships currently in commission for the navy among them was the Kang.

      To get to the conference rooms he crossed across the lobby were in the middle stood a large bronze statue of John the Spartan, Johnson stared up at the statue as he walked by.

      "I hope it's not too bad," thought Johnson as he entered a door on the other side of the lobby that led to the conference rooms.

      When he reached room A5 he walked in and sat down, all around the table there were both covenant and human officers talking to each other in exited voices.

      A man at the far side of the table stood up on his name tag it said his name was Erik, "Good morning everybody," said Erik, "as most of you have heard the patrol ship Kang was recently destroyed on the outskirts of the Kay system, but usually that would not be reason to call a meeting between the top Navy officials."

      "So what's so special," said Johnson.

      "The Kang was destroyed by an alien ship, one with superior weapons," said Erik.

      "Are you sure its not some new rebel ship," asked Johnson.

      "Yes we know its alien in the Kang's black box we found a message from the aliens, the call them selves the 'forerunner'" Erik flipped a button and the message played.

      All of the people at the table sat with their mouth slightly open in shock as they listened to the tape.

      When the tape ended Erik spoke again, "all that we currently know about the forerunner are from the old covenant prophecies and the accounts of Halo from John the Spartan."

      "So our next move is?" asked Johnson.

      "We must establish contact," said Erik.

      Next:Contact



Revolution 2 Return of the Forerunner Part 2: Contact
Date: 26 October 2002, 12:03 am

      Three months have passed since the destruction of the Kang strange energy readings seemed to be appearing everywhere along the edges of deep space but by the time a patrol ship could reach the location it was gone.

The Outskirts of the Kay system

      Captain Koju an elite stood on the bridge of the combat cruiser Thespian. The Thespian was one of the newest cruisers in the fleet it was equipped with the latest weapons including six particle ion beams (PIB) and 200 arch angle missile pods, all along the sides of the ship particle laser cannons jutted out providing protection from virtually every angle. Inside it close to 1000 Marines and 800 crew stood ready to stop anything that could be thrown at them that is with the exception of the Forerunner.

"Sir were picking up an abnormal power signature coming in from sector WEH-132," said the intelligence officer, "it matches the ones found by the Kang."

      "Ok, all weapons charge up I want a signal sent immediately to FLEETCOM telling them of our position, prepare all fighters for launch and end any unnecessary tasks," said Koju out loud to all of the crew.       Minutes later the comm. crackled and admiral Johnson's voice sounded throughout the bridge "Captain Koju you have reported an abnormal power signature near your location."

      "Yes sir, requesting permission to proceed to sector WEH-132," said Koju.

      "Permission granted I'm sending two frigates to accompany you they are already on route, if fired upon you have permission to engage," said Johnson.

      "Over and out," said Koju as he closed the comm.

      Minutes later the two frigates met up with the Thespian and quickly with the Thespian went back into slipstream and sped towards WEH-132.

      "ETA 3 minutes all weapons charged and safety systems have been disengaged," said the Intel officer.

      "Good," answered Koju, "I want a comm. link opened up first to whatever we encounter, violence will be our last resort."

      "Ok," replied the Intel officer.

      Several minutes later the Thespian and the two cruisers came out of slipstream only a kilometer in front of them a strange ship appeared to be a large shimmering orb floated.

      "Open the comm. channel now," said Koju.

      Upon a screen in front of Koju a figure appeared, it was wearing golden armor and resembled an old Egyptian god.

      "This is the UNSC cruiser Thespian we do not wish to cause any harm to you but we will act if threatened," said Koju.

      "You stand in our way elite, you have chosen to die," said the figure, suddenly the comm. channel closed.

      "Sir were picking up an increasing energy signal," said the Intel officer.

      "Open fire," yelled out Koju.

      Six PIB cannons fired off towards the Forerunner ship followed by a thousand archangel missiles. The frigates that accompanied the Thespian did the same, launching their missiles and firing their duel PIB cannons.

      Within seconds the first PIB beams slammed into the Enemies shield causing it to shimmer brightly, the missiles as they hit the shields exploded sending shockwaves through space; slowly the Forerunners shields began to turn yellow. Suddenly four bright neon blue bolts flew from the Forerunner ship on a course towards the two frigates, within seconds the four rounds slammed into the frigates going straight through their shields, the frigates began to implode explosions could be seen all along its sides, then in a bright flash of light from the reactors exploding the frigates were turned into space junk.

      "Oh crap," said Koju, "fire up the engines get this ship back into the Kay system."

      Out side the Forerunner ship fire off another volley nearly missing the Thespian, which was, now turning around, seconds later the Thespian fired up its engines and sped off into slipstream.

      "Sir the Forerunner do not appear to be pursuing us," said the intelligence officer.

      "Good," said Koju as he stared at several radar screens, "send a message to FLEETCOM tell them that all talks have failed."

Earth

      "Sir the Forerunner have destroyed two of our frigates on the outskirts of the Kay system, the cruiser Thespian escaped to the Kay system," crackled the comm. system in Johnson's office.

      "Order all ships to withdraw from patrols to their home systems," replied Johnson began to pick up some folders.

      "Anything else sir," asked the person on the other side of the comm. system.

      "Yes," replied Johnson, "Get the head of ONI and general Strait down in conference room A5 immediately."

      "Yes sir," replied the comm. "over and out."

      "Time to get this show on the road," said Johnson to himself as he got up from his chair and walked out the door.

      Inside the conference room admiral Johnson general Strait and the head of ONI who kept his name secret all sat down reviewing the latest attack.

      "Sir they are at least 1000 years more advanced than us their weapons can cut straight through plasma energy shields while ours don't do jack," said Johnson to the head on ONI.

      "Well that leaves us with a couple of options," said the head of ONI, "first of all I believe that we should bring the Cole protocol back into effect, we cannot let them find our planets."

      "Ok and what else do you suggest," asked Strait.

      "You probably haven't heard of this yet," said the head of ONI, "but 14 years ago the Spartan project was resurrected."

      "How many are there," asked Strait with a curious look on his face.

      "Only 80," said the Head of ONI.

      "So your going to use soldiers from a hundred and fifty year old project," said Johnson.

      "It's had its advancements," said the head of ONI.

      "Well we better do something fast we may have only few days before the Forerunner begin to advance," said Johnson.

Next: First Strike



Revolution 2 Return of the Forerunner Part 3: First Strike
Date: 30 October 2002, 7:20 pm

Outskirts of Galileo, Kay system

      Lieutenant Arch stared down at the radar screens of his station; he was the one on outpost 176, since the forerunner had been engaged not to long ago things just seemed to get tense everything was on high alert waiting to see if the Forerunner would attack.

      "Goddamn meteors that's all there is out here meteors and space junk," said Arch as struggled to stay awake, he hadn't been able to get any rest for the last few days every time he turned around new reports of strange energy signals would come in.

      "Do I always have to correct you that's an asteroid not a meteor," said the outpost AI Lea.

      "What ever, their all just floating rocks," said Arch as his eyes began to close; suddenly he collapsed on to the keyboard of his station.

      On his screen suddenly three large triangular shaped objects passed onto his screen.

      "Wake up!" said Lea.

      Suddenly Arch's eyes came open and wandered to the screen for several seconds he stared at the screen until he could finally get a word out of his mouth, "oh shit."

Galileo

      "All stations go to high alert immediately," yelled Koju, as he stood now tense listening to the reports of incoming ships.

      "Sir ETA of unknown vessels 5 minutes," said the intelligence officer Derrick.

      "I want all fighters launched and ready to engage any hostile craft," yelled out Koju.

      Every ship in the Kay system was now gone to high alert and rushing to defend Galileo from the incoming alien ships, the orbital defenses around the planet, which had not been activated in close to 50 years were now gone to high alert.

      "Unknown craft now within visible range," yelled out Derrick.

      "Charge all weapon systems and fire the minute they're within range," yelled out Koju.

      "Sir they appear to be launching hundreds of smaller ships, about the size of fighters," said Derrick.

      "Order our fighters to engage immediately," said Koju as his stomach began to sink.

      Suddenly a large blue beam came from one of the Forerunner ships it slammed into a UNSC cruiser next to the Thespian front on, the beam passed straight through the cruiser and went on barely missing a frigate behind it. In the cruiser a gapping hole was left which was quickly filled with an explosion from the fusion reactors destroying it.

      "Sir were now in firing range launching all missiles and firing PIB cannons," yelled out the weapons officer.

      Suddenly thousands of smaller cigar shaped ships flew past the Thespian the other defenders, heading towards Galileo.

      "Why aren't the fighters stopping them," yelled out Koju.

      "They did but they were all destroyed," yelled out the weapons officer.

      On the surface of Galileo millions of people were now fleeing for shelter as the cigar shaped ships began to descend into orbit, the hundreds of shelters that covered the planets surface were quickly filled and many people were forced to seek shelter in basements and underground garages.

      "We have contact," yelled out a voice from another squad somewhere on the planet.

      "Where are you," said Sergeant Alt to the troop on the other side of the comm.

      "Grind D8 Alpha," said the troop with a lot of fear in his voice, "were being overrun, there's hundreds of them, AHHHHHH." The comm. signal died.

      "Crap, that sector had a shelter on it," said Alt.

      "Sir an enemy ship made touchdown a minute ago just 500 meters north of here," yelled out a troop.

      "Ok everybody suit up and be prepared for engagement," said ALT.

      A minute later sergeant Alt and his squad of 16 troops a mix of both covenant and human moved quickly up the streets of the city Arit towards the location of the enemy ships landing. Lining the streets there were abandoned hover cars and newsstands, everything seemed strange with the usually crowded streets now empty.

      "Stop!" said Alt through his comm. to his troops, "look up ahead, and take aim, fire upon my signal."

      Up ahead three figures that resembled tall Jackals about 7 feet tall walked around the corner carrying strange weapons that resembled hand held fuel rod guns. Suddenly one of them pointed towards the squad's location behind several hover cars and began to open fire. Large green laser bolts flew through the air colliding with nearby objects completely vaporizing them on impact.

      "Open Fire!" yelled out Alt as he fired his MAC rifle at the three Jackal like creatures.

      Within minutes the whole street was a huge firefight as more and more creatures joined the enemy and began to fire upon the small squad. An Elite soldier next to Alt was suddenly struck by one of the bolts his body was quickly engulfed in a large green explosion that left nothing but a smoldering crater in the sidewalk.

      The enemy seemed to be taking hits but nothing could penetrate their shields.

      "We need EVAC ASAP!" yelled Alt through his comm. to one of the many carriers currently fighting in orbit.

      "T-Drop on route, ETA three minutes," said the man on the other side of the comm.

      "All troops fall back and prepare for EVAC," said Alt through his comm. to his troops.

      Quickly the squad fell back about 2 blocks to a park city park. Of the 16 original squad members only 7 were left many of them with injuries. The green laser bolts were still coming decimating anything that they hit.

      "Prepare for dust off T-drop on ground load up and were out of here," said the voice of T-drops pilot as it quickly came to the ground and landed a little ways away from the squad.

      T-drops were given their name because of their shape the long part had a long hatch on either side much like the old covenant drop ships and the shorter section on the back harbored the engine and shield generators.

      "Load up!" yelled out alt as he began to boot it towards the safety of the drop ship. Quickly everybody hopped into the closest side of the T-drop and the hatches closed up, quickly the T-drop rose into the sky until it was higher than the nearby building. All across the city the cigar shaped ships were landing dropping off their troops and quickly rising back into orbit. Galileo had been overrun.

      "What's the situation in orbit," Alt asked the pilot of the T-drop.

      "Bad many of our ships are pulling out and retreating to nearby worlds to help defend them if the Forerunner attack them, close to a hundred of our ships have been destroyed," said the Pilot.

      "How many civilians have escaped," asked Alt preparing himself for the bad news.

      "Every attempt so far has failed, most of the shelters have already been found and destroyed by enemy troops," said the pilot as he navigated through the sky and into orbit. Space was filled with fire as the dozens of remaining UNSC ships were firing in a last ditch attempt to save Galileo from the Forerunner. Thousands of chunks of metal from destroyed ships floated past them as they quickly dashed for the carrier that they were told to go to.

      Suddenly a huge blue beam coming from one of the Forerunner ships went straight through the carrier and narrowly missing the T-drop, the carrier was destroyed.

      "Oh crap," said the Pilot, "This is T-drop 3465 our rendezvous with the carrier Hewlett has been terminated, requesting permission to board any ship in the area with room."

      "This is the cruiser Thespian permission granted to dock with us, sending you coordinates," said a man on the comm. channel.

      Seconds later a red dot appeared upon the navigation map and the T-drop quickly flew off to it. The Thespian was huge, its PIB cannons were continuously firing but it was still not enough to damage the Forerunner ships.

      "Coming in to land," said the Pilot.

      The T-drop flew into the cruisers hanger and sank to the ground in an empty spot near the double door entrance to the hanger. Quickly the hatches of the T-drop fell open and the soldiers came out battered, bruised and only half of their original number left.

Next: Information



Revolution 2 Return of the Forerunner Part 4: Information
Date: 5 November 2002, 7:24 pm

      "Get us the hell out of here!" yelled out Koju to the navigation officer.

      "Random slipstream location chosen jump in 5...4...3...2...1" yelled out the navigation officer.

      Quickly the Thespian began to accelerate speeding away from the slaughter that was the Forerunners first strike. Galileo was overrun and those ships that couldn't go into slipstream were quickly destroyed, everything was lost, a green light engulfed the Thespian as it sped away sending it into slipstream into unknown territory.

1 week later

      A green light appeared in space and from it the huge cruiser Thespian came. In front of them lay a sight not seen in 150 years, a red dessert plant not out of the ordinary but in its orbit huge pieces of what appeared to once have been a ring floated, their inner curved surfaces now black and lifeless.

      "What is that," asked Koju as he stared at the screen revealing the broken ring.

      "I don't know, the closest thing I can get about it is a 150 year old account from the Spartan John," said Derrick typing furiously, "he referred to it as Halo."

      "Halo, that's in the old covenant prophecies," said Koju, "its supposedly a weapon of mass destruction."

      "It fits Johns description, after a creature he called the flood were released from deep underground chambers he was left with no choice but to destroy it, apparently Halo had the power to wipe out all life in the galaxy," said Derrick, "This is interesting, according to an AI he encountered on the surface Halo was created by the Forerunner, also in his account the AI referred to John as Reclaimer."

      "What happened to this AI," asked Koju.

      "The last mention of the AI was that it tried to set off Halo to destroy the flood," said Derrick.

      "Very well," said Koju, "Is it possible to land a team on the surface of the remaining parts of this halo."

      "Yes it is they'll have to use atmosphere suites but according to scanners theres somehow still gravity on all pieces of the ring," said Derrick.

      "Send a team down there right away this 'Halo' might give us some useful information," said Koju, "what troops do we have left."

      "According to all reports 95% of our soldiers were killed on Galileo attempting to evacuate civilians," said Derrick, "there is a few remaining soldiers though suitable for this mission, shall I tell them to get ready."

      "Yes tell them to meet me in the briefing room in 20 minutes," said Koju.

      "Got it," said Derrick.

      Twenty minutes later 50 soldiers sat around an oval table examining the holo maps, among them sergeant Alt sat quietly assessing the landscape of the area they were to land.

      "As you can tell the DZ will be on an island," said Derrick who led the briefing, "the reason we picked this location is because of several crashed drop ships both old covenant and human, this leads us to believe that there was something on this island that they were willing to fight for."

      "So were going to be dropped down on a 150 year old battlefield to look for anything related to an even older race, did it ever occur to you that it was all taken away after the battle," said Alt.

      "According to the accounts by Spartan John who participated in the battle upon this island there is a map located inside one of the structures of the island," said Derrick, "with this map we will be able to find more important structures located on other pieces of the ring."

      "Ok, but how are we supposed to locate this map, that island could take hours to fully explore and atmosphere suits can only help us for so long," said Alt.

      "Don't worry we already have coordinates of were the map is located, again thanks to an AI that John used on Halo called Cortana," said Derrick.

      "So when do we leave," asked Alt.

      "In approximately 4 hours," said Derrick passing out papers containing mission plans.

      In side the barracks Alt was putting on an atmosphere suit, it had been one of the Marines who had died on Galileo, on the helmet there was a name etched out, it said Private Shear.

      "All squads report to docking bay A1," crackled the comm.

      Alt picked up his MAC rifle and a P86 plasma pistol on his way out the door. In a single file all 50 of the soldiers walked, none of them were talking except for a few who were saying prayers.

      Alt suddenly thought of something, what if the flood didn't need oxygen to survive and they were still down there waiting for anything stupid enough to come looking. At this thought his heart rate went up.

      In front of the soldiers a double door opened with a hiss revealing the docking bay, in the center f the bay a T- drop sat with both hatches open, all the troops climbed in and sat buckled up. The hatches slowly began to close turning casting a shadow over Alt's face until the only light that gleamed off his visor was a thin line, which then disappeared. Slowly the T-drop lifted of the Thespian's bay floor and flew out down towards a piece of the once mighty fortress world.

      "Initiating primary thrusters," said the Pilot.

      The ship jolted as the thrusters kicked in sending the T-drop speeding towards their destination.

      Alt breathed slowly inside the atmosphere suit trying to keep his heart rate down, but nothing could stop it, he had a very bad gut feeling about there mission and it wasn't about to go away.

      "ETA 3 minutes, everyone prepare for drop," said the Pilot.

      The T-drop began to slow down to a hover as it came within 100ft of the ground. The T-drop slowly touched down and the hatches opened.

      The island that they had touched down on was covered in twilight; near them a derelict pelican lay crashed into a large rock. Off near a cliff several old warthogs sat, they looked almost new due to the vacuum of space nothing could cause them to rust. Also along the sandy beach small pieces of metal protruded every little ways, they were the weapons helmets and armor of the soldiers who fought on the island 150 years ago.

      Alt stepped out of the T-drop onto the twilight sand, he looked up and the only thing he could see were stars and the Thespian, which orbited just above the shard of the ring.

      Suddenly he remembered what they were here for, "all troops head out."

      On his HUD a blue arrow appeared shoeing the location the building that him and his team were to enter, it was up in a cliff wall. As he moved up the beech several men grabbed weapons that protruded from the sand.

      "Wow a needler," said a Marine as he stared in amazement at his find.

      "Ok everyone follow me we'll have lots of time to inspect the beech later," said Alt.

      Quickly the team ran up to the cliff wall and moved up until they came insight of a ramp made out of rack that led up to a platform made out of a strange metal. On the platform two huge bodies of hunters lay there bodies dried and shriveled making their armor seem loose on their wrinkled skin.

      Also on the platform there was an entrance, slowly the troops entered, into pure darkness.

      "Flashlights on," said Alt as he clicked his light on.

      His light-revealed three flood warriors dead on the ground their "skin" shriveled and strange wire like thing protruding from their body.

      "Holy shit," said a Marine who kicked the mutilated figure on the ground.

      "Lets go," said Alt in a quieter voice, now with his gun raised checking every corner.

      The soldiers walked down a ramp that led to a small hatch it opened as they approached.

      "Be ready for anything," said Alt as he walked through.

      The troops moved slowly through the corridors inspecting every inch.

      The comm. suddenly began to cut in, "All squad pull out.... under attack.... repeat all troops pull out, we are under attack," screamed the voice of Derrick through the heavy static caused by the metal corridors of the ancient Forerunner structure.

      "O shit," said Alt, "all troops get to the surface and find cover double time."

Next: Last freedom



Revolution 2 Return of the Forerunner Part 5: Last Freedom
Date: 29 November 2002, 1:25 am

      The squad ran up though the narrow hall of the ancient Forerunner complex preparing themselves for the fight of their lives. Sweat rolled down Alts face under the helmet of his atmosphere suit, his finger rapped around the trigger of his MAC rifle. The troops ran around a corner revealing the gateless entry to the mostly underground complex, outside everything seemed just like it was before, the ground still covered in twilight and the beech undisturbed except for the footprints of the troops.

      "Look!" yelled a marine pointing up in the sky.
      
      Up in the sky a large triangular Forerunner ship fired a huge blue beam straight through the Thespian causing its fusion reactors to go off lighting up the piece of the once magnificent structure like the sun once did.

      "Shit," said a near by elite.

      "O crap," said Alt as his mind raced to find a way out of there. "You two, go see if those old human vehicles he passed by still work," said Alt pointing at two marines, "the rest of you we will take cover over there in those rocks."

      Minutes later the roar of the ancient warthog's engines could be heard coming from a little ways away, then the two warthogs turned the corner and came to a stop near the rock were Alt was hidden just as they would have 150 years ago.

      "This things pretty sweet," said a Marine who sat in the driver's seat of one.

      "Do those guns still work," asked Alt looking at the huge 50 caliber machine guns attached to the backs of both warthogs.

      "Jump in the back and try it out," said a Marine.

      Alt carefully stepped up into the back of the warthog and but his hands around the two grips, behind them there were levers, he pulled down on them, the barrel quickly spit out a bullet and rotated letting out another, the vibrations of the powerful gun shook Alt's arms and body, it felt almost good.

      Alt looked up into the squad suddenly remembering their situation, "get those things up into the rocks so that you can see the beech, I want you guys to operate the guns on them two do you understand."

      "Yes sir," said the Marines in unison.

      Several minutes later the troops laid on their stomachs with their guns pointing in all possibly approaches of the enemy.

      "I don't think they're coming," said a Marine near Alt.

      "What's that," said an Elite pointing up in the sky.

      Up above a cigar shaped Forerunner drop ship came speeding down towards the island, suddenly around 300m it slowed down and slowly began to land on the sand in front of the troops.

      "Don't open fire until they are all out of the ship," said Alt, watching as a door in the side of the drop ship facing them opened up.

      Slowly 20 of the Jackal like creatures walked out of the cigar shaped drop ship holding what resembled pistols with large barrels.

      "Fire!" said Alt as he took aim at the nearest creature.

      From up farter in the rocks the two 50mm guns of the warthogs clattered to life sending hundreds of rounds at the enemies, all around troops opened up with their MAC rifles, the sound of guns firing was enough the make a person with no ear protection go deaf.

      The Forerunner troops stood still for a moment in shock trying to figure out were they were being fired upon from but then they lifted their pistol like guns and fired orange bolts of a strange plasma into the rocks.

      An Elite that lay near Alt was struck in the head with one of the orange shots he fell to the ground immediately unconscious. Alt looked up to see an orange flash he dropped his weapon and blacked out.

~

      Alts eyes opened up slowly he lay on the metal floor of a strange holding cell, at the entrance a plasma shield blocked all exits. Out side two of the Jackal like creatures walked up and looked in.

      "This ones recovering, in an hour or so they should all be up," said one who was slightly shorter then the other.

      The other wore a strange golden robe and had an air of power, "good ill take them all, and they should please the crowds."

      "That they will do, there fighters all of them, I can guarantee it," said the smaller one.

Next: The Stadium



Revolution 2 Return of the Forerunner Part 6: The Stadium
Date: 3 December 2002, 1:39 am

      Alt sat hugging his knees in the far corner of his holding cell onboard the Forerunner ship thinking about the happenings of the past few days, all the friends he lost and the uncertain future he now faced.

      What had he mean, "Please the crowds". Alt thought to himself. He was alone in his cell but all around him he could hear the moans and cries of his team members who from his guess had been all captured.

      A door somewhere outside Alt's cell opened up and a creature could be heard walking in.

      "Get on your feet you lazy slaves," yelled the creature.

      Slaves! Thought Alt as he got up on his feet.

      Slowly the creature walked down past all the holding cells. From a glance it resembled a regular Forerunner but on a closer inspection it was far from normal, mussels could be seen all over its body which was covered in scars, one of its eyes was gone leaving only a scar and a bad stitching job left to show where it had once been.

      "Welcome to Baltist the Forerunner home world," it yelled out as it began to turn off the energy fields that closed off all of the cells.

      "You will line up in single file in the middle of the room, do you hear me," yelled out the creature as he turned off the energy field to Alt's holding cell. "You are probably wondering what's going to happen to you from here," it said as an evil grin crossed his scared face, "you are about to become entertainers, you will spend the rest of your days pleasing the crowds with your own and others blood. Or to make it easier for you to understand, you will become gladiators."

      Alt felt like he was just hit with a brick wall, gladiators! He thought.

      All of Alt's squad moved out of their cells and formed a line in the middle of the room.

      "Good," said the muscular Forerunner, "now don't try anything funny or I'll have your throat's at the end of my knife."

      The doors that led out into the winding passages of the Forerunner ship opened up with a slight whirr and quickly the creature led them out and though the halls.

      Several minutes later a double door in front of them opened up revealing a ramp leading down to a packed dirt floor, the muscular Forerunner led them down the ramp and stopped.

      Pointing to a the tall Forerunner Alt had seen days ago the ship the muscular Forerunner said, "this is Feyd Sera, you will do as he says from now till the day that you die."

      "I got it from here," said Feyd Sera, "I do not ask much of you, all I need you to do is fight, which as I understand you are quite good at."

      From overhead outlined by the pale blue skies of Baltist a small ship stopped over a nearby grav-lift.

      "Get on the grav-lift," said Feyd, "I will be meeting you at the stadium."

      The squad led by Alt stepped onto the lift then slowly at first but then faster they rised up into the sky and through a hole in the bottom of the ship. The ship had 50 seats on either side with the backs against the wall, quickly the troops sat down and the ship began to move.

      Alt looked out the still open hole through which they entered the ship, the whole city seemed to be in a desert with most of the streets made of backed dirt and tall dusty building lining them, on the ground old rusted hover vehicles passed through the streets which were also crowded with hundreds of Jackal like creatures lining up at the many vendors that set up along the road.

      Then Alt saw it, up ahead a huge round building with a domed roof came into view, all around it huge statues of Forerunner wearing strange armor and holding swords stood. The building appeared to be made of sandstone but the domed roof appeared to be made out of some kind of wood.

      "That's it," said Alt, "The stadium."

Next: The Crowds



Revolution 2 Return of the Forerunner Part 7: The Crowds
Date: 7 December 2002, 8:28 pm

      The ship that carried the soon to be initiated gladiators landed near the stadium and reopened a grav-lift to the sandy ground.

      "Step through the hole in the floor the lift will handle the rest," Said a voice through a speaker mounted on the ceiling.

      Alt stood up and stepped into the hole, slowly he descended to the ground, which lay 25 feet below him, the sand felt course on the bottoms of his feet as he touched down. Quickly Alt stepped out of the way so that the rest of his squad could land. The air of Baltist was dry and stung Alts throat as he breathed.

      "All gladiators this way!" yelled out a Forerunner carrying spear in one hand.

      Alt walked slowly towards the Forerunner who pointed towards an arched rough sandstone door that led into the stadium. Alt and the rest of his troops walked through the door and into a dusty room filled with creatures of all shapes and sizes all with there ankles chained and under constant surveillance by Forerunner guards.

      Several Forerunner guards walked up to Alt and his squad carrying the shackles for there legs, quickly the Jackal like creatures closed shut the cold metal bracers around Alts ankles and clicked a lock shut. All around him he heard the locks being locked around the squads legs. Behind them a huge metal door was closed sealing off the entrance.

      "Follow me you will undergo your first challenge in four hours," said a Forerunner guard.

      "Already," said Alt.

      The Forerunner led them into a small room filled with armor and weapons, along the walls several Forerunner hammered away on pieces of armor that were damaged from previous fights.

      "Take a sword, don't even try to fight in here or you will be killed immediately," said the Forerunner.

      The squad walked over to the weapons rack and began to pick up whatever weapons that seemed to fit them best. Most of the swords were about 27 inches long and deeply resembled roman design, along the edge little chips were taken off from previous battle and several of the grips were blood stained.

      "According to the program you will be fighting today without armor while our blacksmiths attempt to make something that will fit your strange shapes," said the Forerunner.

      Alt gripped his sword for some reason it felt strangle familiar to him. Almost as if he had been fighting with it for years, he could almost picture himself slaying many a creature with this weapon but for every time he envisioned himself killing he saw himself being killed. That's when he realized it even the movement of a hand could change his future and now he had to choose his destiny.

      "Follow me to the training room," said the Forerunner guard, "well let you get used to your weapons before you fight."

      Slowly the squad following the Forerunner filed out of the room all with weapon in hand, Alt stayed near the back of the group balancing the sword in his hand, thinking.

      The training room was a rectangular pen with an open roof along the outer edge of the stadium. There in a chair along the side sat Feyd Sera in his golden robe watching his newly bought gladiators fight without drawing blood. He noticed a tall human fighting at the far end of the training room that was fighting another human.

      Clank! Clank! Clank! Went there sword as the taller human parried then went on the offense making a move to one side then striking the other way, the technique that he fought with was almost like he had been fighting for years with sword. Then in a blink of an eye the man made a slashing motion and stopped the sword just short of his opponent's neck. The man then lifted away his sword and shook hands with his opponent.

      "Call him over," said Feyd to one of his servants that sat next to him, "I want to talk to him."

      "Hey! You!" yelled out his servant pointing to the tall man, "Get over here!"

      The tall man quickly jogged over to were the servant stood.

      "I have noticed how well you fight," said Feyd, "what is your name."

      "Alt sir" said the tall man, " was Sergeant Alt the leader of these men."

      "Good," said Feyd, "will your men die for you in combat."

      "They will do what is best for the group as a whole," said Alt, "even if it means sacrifice."

      "Excellent," said Feyd seeing Alts hand tighten around his swords grip, "don't even try to kill me I'm surrounded by the strongest personal shield I could buy and you will just be killed instantly by the guards, that wouldn't be good for the men now would it."

      Alt grip in the sword loosened, "no it wouldn't."

      "Good, tell your men to get line up in a double line," said Feyd getting up from his chair, "It's time to see just how good you are."

~

      The double line of gladiators of both human and covenant races stood before a metal gate that led to the arena floor.

      "You will fight to your deaths," said Feyd gazing upon the troops, "you will die for the crowds."

      Slowly the metal gate lifted up revealing the huge circular arena floor, all above them rising up 300ft into the air thousands of Forerunner spectators sat cheering.

      "Now go, and please them all," said Feyd.

      The gladiators led by Alt walked out onto the arena floor. Alts could almost feel the death in the packed sand floor on which they were to fight, he took a deep breath and gripped his sword tightly.

      Up in the stands there was a platform with a large gold throne upon it a tall Jackal like creature wearing a black cuirass with shapes of plants and creatures that resembled horses upon it in silver walked out and sat down. As he sat the whole stadiums attention seemed focused upon that one Forerunner.

      The emperor, thought Alt.

      On the other side of the arena floor another gate opened and a group of strange tall creatures resembling apes walked out holding swords. The whole stadium cheered and then fell silent.

      The emperor stood up and began to speak, "my fellow Forerunner, today you are about to see a long awaited spectacle. Today one of our many experiments we have created finally has returned to their birth place."

      The whole crowd cheered and then fell silent again.

      "And now it is time for them to prove that they are better then the originals, if they succeed our experiment will have been a success. But if they fail we will be forced to purge the galaxy of our experiment gone wrong."

      The crowd cheered and again fell silent.

      "Now let the battle begin!"

Next: Battle for a Race





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