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RoF: Ring of Fire (Parts 1,2, & 3) by TheRedFaction
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RoF: Ring of Fire Parts 1,2, & 3
Date: 19 March 2003, 4:52 AM
RoF01: It begins
Ring of Fire: The story of Halo
The fog that blanketed the dense forest kept Lieutenant James Garrison from picking off his regular count of Grunts, but he still had a flashlight. He hid behind a rock, keeping quiet as a battalion of Grunts marched by. An MA5B assault rifle lay at his side, while he carried a sniper rifle in his arms. His breathing became heavy yet quiet. He glanced around the side to check for any more Covenants, but he found nothing. He might have been wrong because of the fog.
Very slowly, increasing the risk for his own death by the second, he got to his knees. He could see a flash of shimmering armor in the trees. He smiled. He looked to his right, checking for more, but made a mistake when he spent too much time scoping out a figure in the shadows.
By the time he returned his gaze left, a wandering Grunt was approaching, still unaware of his presence. His breath caught in his throat.
The Grunt turned and spotted him immediately. Garrison responded by raising his rifle and putting an armor piercing round through the Covenants' skull. A scream came from somewhere in the jungle. Garrison jerked to the right and again put a shell through the chest of yet another Grunt.
Now he was being outnumbered as hundreds of Grunts and a few Elites closed in on him. Three more sniper rounds tore through the dense air, and three more Grunts fell.
He now had little time to take action. A longsword tried to reduce him to a burnt corpse, but was met with a fragmentation grenade. It stared surprisingly at the item for about two seconds, then was blown away when the tiny explosive detonated.
He then raised the MA5B and jerked back on the trigger, letting loose sixty more armor piercing rounds that tore through anything in their sight: Trees, brush, leaves, small rocks. Anything that challenged a bullet fell in a dead slump.
Bark was ripped relentlessly from the trees and twigs and leaves went flying. Smoking shells littered the ground around the tiring Lieutenant. Still, he did not back down.
It was a matter of seconds before his assault rifle was empty and he took to holding them back with his two pistols, taking down another twenty-four before he slid two more magazines into the weapons.
Within minutes, the lone Lieutenant had defeated a Covenant battalion of a hundred or more trained and armed soldiers. He lay behind the rock and caught his breath, now overwhelmed with fatigue and a sea of shells.
"Lieutenant Garrison, this is Fireteam Zulu Unit B, reporting from Pelican Echo 420D18. Do you copy?"
The message was unclear and was constantly interrupted by static, but it aroused the officer and brought him to his senses.
"This is Lieutenant James Garrison. I landed successfully at 1900 hours, Earth time. I have just completed a brief battle against a well-trained battalion of Grunts and Elites, marching through the forest. I need assistance."
"Roger, Lieutenant. We are on our way."
The radio died at that last second, due to long exposure to the never-ending rainfall of the forest. Garrison was located in a clearing not far from a Covenant base. He decided to keep his distance, since his ammunition was nearly depleted.
A short while later, the trees began to sway, bending outward like waves. The leaves on the ground were picked up by the intense force and blown into the brush.
Garrison opened his eyes at the sound, only to be blinded by two white lights, an inferno to his vision. He sat up, lifting a hand to block the light. The first thought that entered his mind was that he had mistakenly taken refuge in a landing field for Covenant troopships. Oh no.
He was wrong, however. The blinding lights were from the lamps on the front of Pelican Echo 420D18, an advanced version of the Pelican Echo. Instead of a cockpit and troop cabin, it contained a medical station behind the cockpit, a troop cabin that held up to forty Marines, and had a steel hatch with a reinforced glass window that covered the rear opening. The hovercraft lowered itself to the ground. Two men jumped out from the rear and rushed to him. He fell unconscious as they reached him.
He awoke on the seats of Echo 420D18. The roar of the ocean was just below. He sat up. A wet cloth was flattened on his forehead. He ached. The lights came on in the rear cabin, illuminating his dark world. A single girl stepped through the door. She was beautiful, yet oddly familiar.
"Do I know you?" asked the Lieutenant. His voice felt small and feeble.
"You used to. My name is Cortana," the girl replied.
"Cortana...the Cortana? You assisted us over thirty years ago. You and the first SPARTAN II."
The girl smiled. "I was reborn as a human at the former request of Captain Keyes. He wanted it to happen after the war."
"You look just like they said you did," Garrison said, examining her. "What is it like being a computer system?"
"Your curiosity is funny," Cortana responded, kneeling next to him. "I wouldn't know what it's like. Computer systems don't have feelings or senses."
Garrison nodded. "Why'd you come in here? Is something wrong?" My curiosity is funny?
"'Course not. We have to check up on our patients every now and then."
"Sorry. I'm a little delirious."
"They told me about your battle," Cortana said, seemingly surprised.
Garrison nodded and suddenly moaned. Cortana had a look of alarm on her face when he blacked out.
He awoke again, this time on a cot in a small room. He attempted to sit up, but he was strapped to the cot, which was bolted to the floor. There was a medical kit on each side of a door in the center of the wall he faced. The room swayed, and the kits tilted along with it. He realized he was not on the ground. He was still on board Pelican Echo 420D18, except he was now in the medic room. Cortana was next to him, still looking worried. He thought she was worried about him, but realized she was staring intently at a holographic screen that depicted a soldier sending a cry for help. A blue burst of plasma erupted only feet behind him, sending two Marines into the air, flailing their arms helplessly and their weapons flipping through the air. Their grenades gathered in a cluster on the burnt ground. The soldier requesting help turned to see what happened, but only turned in time to see another plasma grenade land in the middle of the frag cluster. The soldier muttered something and backed away, followed by the Marine who recorded the cry for assistance. They had made it a fair distance away when the plasma grenade exploded. Within seconds, the fragmentation grenades were set off, launching a chain reaction of explosions, illuminating the crisp air with a flash of blue and orange flames. The soldier, identified as Captain Jack Carter, returned his gaze to the camera.
"We need assistance! Send-" The recording cut short as another explosion rocked the ground.
Cortana shook her head.
"Is that where we're going?"
Cortana turned. "No," she said, surprised he was awake. "We have nobody to fight. You are injured and we need to get you out of here."
"We are still on Halo?"
"Well, the Covenants, as you know, recreated Halo during the past thirty years. They made it stronger and immune to hardcore explosions of our ships."
"So the war starts all over again? The first time was pointless?"
"No," Cortana said. "It was not pointless. We fought to eliminate a threat. We didn't know they would come back. But to be able to live thirty years and go to sleep at night and not have to think about whether or not an invasion would occur the next day, that's a time to enjoy, not consider it in terms of short or pointless. People on Earth could live their lives and not worry about their deaths coming in the distant tomorrow. That kind of time is worth fighting for."
"Oh. I never thought of it that way."
"That's what the Marines do. We fight to protect."
Garrison was silent. Cortana told him after a while, "We are heading for a secret area where our hovercraft can leave Halo's gravitational force with the help of a sort of teleport. We land there and our ships are sent back into space and away from Halo."
The ship began to slow down, and Garrison felt it shudder as it landed softly on an enormous black disc the width of a space cruiser.
Cortana looked down at Garrison. "Relax."
Captain Jack Carter ducked instinctively as a plasma blast burned the ground around him.
"Take cover!"
In the distant there was the ever-present sound of gunfire as two hundred Marines fought off the Covenant army of Grunts. For every two Marines that died, one Grunt fell. The Marines were outnumbered to begin with. Covenant tanks bombarded the open field and hills. Only a few groups of Marine riflemen were left, scattered around the hills.
A Grunt charged at Carter, who, in response, raised a pistol and put a bullet into the Grunt's head. It fell, and Carter fired again, taking down the Grunt behind the first. He turned to see thirty or more Marines lined up behind a line of rocks. A Lieutenant raised his arm into the air and shouted commands.
"Ready!"
Every last Marine lay down on the grass, taking cover behind the rocks.
"Aim!"
Thirty sniper rifles went from being held vertically, into the cloudy air, to horizontally, to challenge the assault team of Grunts that now rushed towards them.
"Fire!"
There was a simultaneous boom as thirty armor piercing rounds tore through the air and met the incoming Grunts. They fell as the rounds ripped through them.
Thirty shells were expelled and the chambers of the smoking rifles were filled with new rounds.
"Fire!"
More Grunts fell in an endless onslaught of bullets, not being able to even scratch a single Marine.
More Covenant troopships were descending on the fields, releasing hundreds more Grunts. Two Echoes landed, delivering more soldiers and taking the wounded away.
Carter realized that he was fighting a losing battle, which would cost him more Marines than it would dollars.
Finally, he called into his radio, "This is Captain Jack Carter. We are leaving the fields. We can't take much more."
Then he shouted, "Retreat!"
His voice echoed across the thunderous plains, and the Marines, one after the other, backed down and ran to Carter. Soon, fifty Echo D18s landed on the grass and the Marines filed in. Covenant tanks continued firing on the hovercraft. One hatch was slow to close and allowed one Marine to get shot by a plasma burst. The Marine across from him responded by casually dropping a fragmentation grenade through the three-inch space. It landed in the cockpit of a Covenant tank, which was being piloted by the same Grunt that shot the other soldier. He gasped, then was engulfed in a shower of angry flames and debris as the grenade burst.
They made it to the transdisc and left Halo's stormy plains. The wounded (including the Marine that got shot due to the slow hydraulics of the rear hatch) were treated.
They landed in the docking hangar of the Pillar of Autumn X, and the Marines retreated to their quarters.
Jack Carter stared out a vast window, overlooking a small silver ring. It seemed peaceful, gentle, but his knowledge of its purpose spoiled that vision. He sighed. He couldn't help but visualize the lifeless men who fought that day. He saw the treachery of war.
He didn't realize it, but while he stared, a single tear landed on the floor.
RoF02: The Beginning of the End Ring of Fire: The story of Halo
The Marines continued to fight for earth, and the human race, over the next six years. It was August 13, 2589. The Pillar of Autumn X hung silently in the endless confines of space.
Jack Carter had had enough of the distant view of Halo, which he visited every night, when the others slept. The ship was surprisingly empty; Fireteam Zulu Unit C was gone, fighting their way into a Covenant base. It was the same base that Lieutenant James Garrison had fought near six years earlier.
Fireteam Zulu Unit B was given a break. They would stay aboard The Autumn X for a few weeks to help guard. The security team wasn't doing very well.
A bell sounded, and an enormous window was unveiled that overlooked the docking hangar.
"Pelican Echo 420D18 now docking," called the soft, automated voice.
Jack stared contently at the cruiser as it settled on the dock as the huge iron doors shut behind it.
Cortana stepped out, followed by the two pilots, and twenty-seven Marines. Echo 420D18 had flown down to Halo and retrieved a few wounded soldiers from Fireteam Zulu Unit C.
"Tell Garrison that the wounded are here," Carter commanded to an officer, who nodded and walked away. Carter waited until the wounded were removed from the ship's cabin, then told the hangar master to open the airlock.
Carter then proceeded to the bridge.
Meanwhile...
On Halo, Zulu Unit B was making their way into the Covenant base. A brief battle had occurred at the entrance, but the Marines had prevailed with the loss of thirteen men. The Marines had the upper hand over the forty Elites that guarded the small outpost. The Elites had no heavy artillery, forcing them to fight with plasma rifles and Needlers.
Three squadrons of Elites had been guarding the entrance, but two had fallen before the other surrendered to the oncoming Marines.
"Captain Carter."
Jack turned. An officer stood in the doorway. "Yes?"
"Fireteam Zulu Unit B is now requesting assistance on Halo. They've sent a message to you, asking if you and Fireteam Unit A will leave immediately. They have sent their coordinates."
The officer handed Jack a sheet of paper, where a set of coordinates was scribbled down. Jack studied the sheet. "This is the Covenant outpost Eartania." He looked up at the officer. "They're invading Eartania? It's in the middle of a remote forest."
"Yes. Intelligence shows that a group of mysterious leaders are there."
"And you sent Unit B to Eartania?"
"Yes, sir. We are eager to capture the leaders."
"It's a trap. Nobody, not even the Covenant, allows a leader or more to be in a military outpost guarded by forty troops," said the Captain. He looked up at the officer. "Your men are dead."
"Are they on their way?"
"No, sir. No reports."
There was a shudder outside. One of the leaders laughed. He said something in an evil tone.
"Check it out," ordered the Captain. He then turned as one of the leaders shouted something and shot him. He realized he was calling for help.
He listened and waited for his men to come back. He heard gunfire. His men were screaming. He rushed to see what was wrong.
His men were firing into the trees. They stopped, then started again in another direction when they heard a cry from a Covenant.
They kept firing but hit nothing. In the next second, they would never be the same.
"Pelican Echo 420D18, 421D18, and 422D18 launching. Clear the docking bay."
Three troopships left the Pillar of Autumn X's docking bay. They burst out into space and headed directly for Halo, which was rotating peacefully.
"Captain, we've lost contact with the force at Eartania."
"They're most likely dead..."
The ships touched down in a clearing. Captain Carter was wearing a battle suit, identical to that of the SPARTAN II's.
He slid a helmet over his face and cocked his MA2B assault rifle. He then jumped out of the troop cabin.
His light illuminated the dense, foggy air. He checked for any Marines, any signs of life from Fireteam Zulu Unit C.
He came across many bodies, all Covenant. He then stepped over the hidden body of a Marine. He caught himself, and kneeled down. The Marine was still alive, and Carter called for someone to help. The Marine was Lieutenant James Garrison, who had been transferred to Unit C two years ago. He had a bad burn from a plasma shot to the lower chest. He sputtered.
"Get him to the ship! He's dying!" Jack had known Garrison for fifteen years and wasn't going to let him die now.
They transported him to the D18. His vital signs began failing. The doctors left to go retrieve more wounded Marines, leaving Carter with a dying Lieutenant in his hands.
"Jack..."
"Garrison, you had better pull through," Carter said weakly.
"I'm sorry, Jack."
"For what? You were doing your job."
"They know now."
"What?"
Garrison muttered, "They know..." he coughed, "where Earth is."
And then his eyes closed and never opened again.
RoF03: Siege of Earth Ring of Fire: The story of Halo
The ships returned to the Pillar of Autumn X. Captain Jack Carter helped carry Garrison's cot out of the ship. A group of people had gathered at the window overlooking the hangar. Cortana was among them.
Carter looked up at her. She appeared to be crying.
None of the Marines lived through the Battle of Eartania.
"Jack Carter says Lieutenant James Garrison gave him information that the Covenant have located Earth and are prepared to invade. Is this what you told us, Captain?"
Carter nodded as he stood before the U.S. Grand Council. "Yes. During the Battle of Eartania, the Covenant force that tricked Fireteam Zulu Unit B obtained information on the exact location of Earth. Several Covenant troopships and heavy artillery have begun the journey to Earth. I suggest we return all military forces except a few battalions to keep the Covenant distracted while we fight them on their way to or on our planet."
The Grand Councilman folded his hands. "We have no time to waste deciding this. I trust you've given it some thought, Captain?"
"Yes."
"Then it is to be done. Return all cruisers and troops to Earth. Leave a small task force to keep as many Covenant here as possible."
Jack stared out through the rear window. The light from the thrusters shined off his face.
A hand slid up and took his. He turned. Cortana squeezed his hand. She looked worried. He returned his gaze to the vast darkness.
"Do you think we'll make it through all this?" Cortana asked quietly.
Carter looked at her. Hatred was carved in his face. He lifted his left hand and opened it. On his gloved palm was the pin that every soldier wore. This one was slightly burned from plasma and had Garrison's name engraved on it.
Cortana leaned into him. "I'm sorry about Garrison. He was a great guy."
Carter squeezed the pin so hard it cut his glove.
"What are you going to do with it?"
"I'm going to where it until we win. Near the end of the war, I'm going to melt it into this." He held up a single bullet.
"Then I'm going to put it through the head of the Covenant leader."
Cortana looked at him.
"Don't worry. We're going to win."
The Pillar of Autumn X lowered its enormous self onto the Marine landing pad. Other cruisers followed it. The docking bay doors opened, and two hundred Pelican Echoes roared out of the ship. It was stormy, but some Marines marched out themselves.
"Captain, how far to the base?"
Jack looked up from the holoscreen. "Thirty minutes."
"Are we sure we can pull this off?"
"I'm not sure. The Covenant knows about any strategies we may have, so we're going to have to launch an all out assault on them. We've led them towards our final position, where they are so intent on defeating us they decided to follow, figuring we were too weak and stupid to beat them."
The officer smiled. "Then we will win."
"Continue assembling troops on the Northern wall."
More and more Pelican Echoes were landing within the walls. Soon, over ten thousand Marines were taking positions. The base wasn't a real base; it was a mere natural outpost formed by hills and boulders. By sunset, the storm had settled down and the Marines were waiting.
The Marines were all asleep when an echoing alarm roared across the plains. It was constantly drowned out by cackling thunder of the returning storm. The Marines slowly awoke, only to be greeted by an explosion. They shouted in surprise and were now wide awake.
Three Banshees screamed overhead, delivering their plasma payload and then sweeping around to assault the unprotected men with the forward mounted guns.
They passed over head once more, but two went up in flames out of nowhere. The third swept back around and retreated. Two Pelican Battle cruisers flew after it. The Marines cheered, grabbed their weapons, and jumped to their positions to fight the Covenant menace.
A commander in the Marine rifleman unit stood on the main wall. Four thousand men, each armed with sniper rifles, lined the wall. When given the command, four thousand rifles lay down on the rocks. Several Grunts screamed and turned back, but many hundreds stayed and continued onward.
"Ready!"
The men raised their rifles to eye level and selected their targets.
"Aim!"
The men braced themselves.
"Fire!"
Smoke and dust, dirt and debris, all flew up as four thousand shells erupted from the barrels of the thousands of rifles.
Wave after wave of Grunts, Hunters, Jackals and Elites fell in the onslaught. Three thousand more Marines leaped over the boulders and met the Covenant forces with their barrage of assault rifle spray. The Covenants did not back down, however. Hundreds of Marines fell or were wounded when plasma tore through the stormy air. Plasma tanks hovered over the plains and battered the fort. They too met a gruesome fate when cannon shells burst from the Scorpions and collided with them. Warthogs roared onto the field and assaulted Grunts and Jackals. Some were brought down by Banshee fire. The Scorpions moved from the fort walls and slowly crossed the plains. Grunts and Elites tried to grenade them, but the chain guns that protected the tanks stopped them.
Fifteen more Echo D18s landed nearby and six hundred Marines entered the battle. Cannons boomed in the distance. Covenant equipment cruisers landed and dropped more tanks and several Ghosts. They screamed across the battle grounds and fired on the Marines, taking down fifty or so more. Pelican Battle cruisers hunted them down and strafed them with machine gun fire and grenades. Covenant troopships landed, released more hunters, and then fired on the Pelicans.
Grenades flew through the air and bombarded both sides. It began to get dark, and the Marines retreated a little bit. They spent the night in the fort, under heavy guard by constant Pelican flybys and Scorpion patrols. Warthogs paced the ground.
Billowing clouds of smoke rose into the night sky. Tanks, Ghosts, Warthogs, Scorpions, Banshees and Pelicans burned on the grass. Fires spread between the two enemies. Jack Carter kept his assault rifle at his side and fell asleep on a bag filled with grenades, just in case.
A horn shattered the morning tranquility. It was the Marine watch towers responding to the plasma fire from the Covenant tanks. The Marines awoke, stood, and were knocked back onto the ground when a plasma blast rocked the ground just outside the rocks.
Scorpions recoiled as they responded to the barrage with shells.
Orange flames erupted from the dirt as the shells exploded on impact with the Covenant side. Warthogs turned and their guns were fired in the same direction. A few Elite Marines stepped up to the wall, armed with long range rocket launchers. They sent rocket after rocket into the distance and tried to eliminate as many tanks as possible.
"Launch the bombing raid!"
Pelican bombers rose from the ground and blasted into the distance. When they left, Banshees took their place. Marine heavy artillery was bombed over and over again, but Covenant forces were sent back when Scorpions returned fire.
It began to appear that the Marines would definitely lose the Siege of Earth. Any strategy they tried was counterattacked and ended up backfiring.
The Marines had received more reinforcements, but that only totaled to five thousand more Marines than they started with. The Covenants had received more than eight thousand reinforcements within two days.
The Marines continued firing on the Covenant, regardless of how many they had.
Cannonfire continued through the second night. Jack watched the plasma tanks through the scope of his sniper rifle. After dark, they would all gather around the Covenant camp and their pilots would sit next to the fire and they would laugh and discuss plans.
Jack hatched a plan, gathered his pack, his assault rifle, and a few men. Using a Warthog, they slowly drove across the battlefield. They stopped about a half mile away, hidden in the thick brush and grass. They scaled the hills and rocks and approached the Covenant tanks. They were empty. Jack climbed one tank and planted a remote grenade under the seat. He activated it, than stepped down. His men finished sabotaging the rest of the tanks, then did the same with the Shadow turrets, Banshees and remaining Ghosts. They then returned to the Warthog and sped, quietly, back to the fort.
The next morning, Covenant tanks, Ghosts, Banshees and transports that carried the turrets made their way across the field. Jack was awakened by an officer who seemed alarmed by the approaching forces. The Covenant artillery was escorted by every remaining Grunt, Elite, Hunter and Jackal.
Marines lined the rocks, staring at the oncoming forces that would insure their death. Jack joined them and removed a remote from his pack. He engaged a holoscreen and twisted a knob, then hit a key.
One plasma tank erupted in flame. Its pieces flew through the air. Another burst. The Covenants stopped focusing on the Marines and desperately tried to discover what was wrong.
Two more tanks blew twenty feet in the air. Ghosts started collapsing, Banshees were being downed. The transports started crashing as the turrets they held exploded. Tank after tank fell to the ground and burned as the remote grenade charges detonated. Within thirty seconds, all that remained of the Covenant forces were the Covenants themselves. They screamed in terror as fifty Scorpions crossed to their position. Shells impounded the plain. Grunts and Elites were blown into the air. Marines wanted revenge now, but they were told to hold back for a moment. Jack removed the bullet he'd made from his pocket. It was the bullet he'd formed with the melted remains of Garrison's pin. He jammed it into
A shell, pushed it into a magazine, then slid it into his pistol. He cocked the pistol and put it into a satchel. He ran out onto the battlefield where Marines fought Covenants. Grunt after Grunt fell in the onslaught. Warthogs tore up and down the plain, firing on Elites.
Jack jumped into the driver side of a Warthog, allowed a gunner to jump in the back, and sped into the chaos. Jack stopped the Warthog outside the Covenant camp. A large bunker had been set up, which was guarded by three Hunters and fifteen Elites. Jack stopped and hid behind a wrecked Ghost, then tossed a grenade off to the far left side of the bunker. It detonated, alarming the guards. They left the entrance unguarded and investigated.
Jack stood. He lifted the flap of his satchel as he approached the entrance to the security bunker. He removed the pistol from it and held it firmly at his side.
He kicked in the weakly strengthened door. On the other side was the Covenant leader, who was going over plans for a retaliation. It was alarmed to see Jack. He screamed something in some identified language. Jack raised the pistol and shot the leader in the chest, where the heart was located. The leader cried out as it fell over backwards. Jack let him writhe on the floor for a moment while he picked up the empty shell and stuffed into his pocket. He then stepped across the room and handed the Covenant leader something. He then backed away casually and left the bunker. He closed his eyes as the door was blown off its hinges when the grenade Jack had handed the leader exploded.
He crossed the battlefield once more to find the Marines celebrating their victory. He found Cortana, who had just arrived, and she stood there, asking him if he was alright. He stopped her, then leaned forward and kissed her.
EPILOGUE
Nine days after the Siege of Earth was won by the Marine forces, a United States cruiser left the planet and set off in a search for Halo. Thirteen days after their departure, the crew reported that Halo was captured successfully with no resistance. Halo was condemned, and the United States has begun to transfer it to a place where people can live.
The night after the Siege, every last Marine was taken to Washington, D.C., where a vast monument was created to honor them. A great celebration followed.
Captain Jack L. Carter was honored for his courage and promoted to Commander of Marine forces.
Cortana was made executive Command for Marine Operations (CMO).
The final battlefield was cleaned and made a historical park and cemetery for the Marines who died.
Earth continued its conquest for the Covenant leaders (if there were any left) until 2593.
And so the sun sets on the horizon of Halo.
Aboard a mysterious cruiser in deep space, a cloaked figure stood before a grand council of an alien race. The council spoke to the figure, who responded: "The humans have won the battle but will not win the war. They must fall. It is the destiny of the Covenant."
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