 |
About This Site
Daily Musings
News
News Archive
Site Resources
Concept Art
Halo Bulletins
Interviews
Movies
Music
Miscellaneous
Mailbag
HBO PAL
Game Fun
The Halo Story
Tips and Tricks
Fan Creations
Wallpaper
Misc. Art
Fan Fiction
Comics
Logos
Banners
Press Coverage
Halo Reviews
Halo 2 Previews
Press Scans
Community
HBO Forum
Clan HBO Forum
ARG Forum
Links
Admin
Submissions
Uploads
Contact
|
|
|
Unforseen Allies by Lloyd
|
Unforseen Allies
Date: 18 January 2005, 3:20 AM
OSTD Commander Burton, Lloyd was in a daze after launching out of the Inamber Clad in his HEV pod and having an unsuccessful landing on "Delta Halo". Armed with only a sniper rifle, pistol, and three fragmentation grenades, and his new prototype armor which resembled that of the Spartans armor but without going through all of the augmentations. He set off on a perilous journey to find the other humans whom had landed on the ring or hopefully find the Master Chief. The commander had spent two days wandering around trying to linkup with his team. Unbenounced to the commander an entire covenant armada was now enroute to "Delta Halo" and things were going go from bad to oh damn. Fifteen minutes passed and no sign of any enemies or an allies, but this hell jumper knew better, about 30 feet up the hill stood six jackals, and one massive looking Brute. The commander readied his sniper rifle, (he was on of the best snipers next to the Spartan known as Linda whom was presumed dead on Reach) and just as he was about to put a piece of lead right through the creatures left eye a flash of what look like highly focused plasma hit dead center the Brutes forehead. The commander took chance of this moment to empty four bullets into four jackals and reloaded. During this process the other sniper had taken out the last of the enemies. The commander stayed put for at least a half an hour until he had heard some rustle ling in the bushes. It was a golden Elite with a plasma sniper. The commander had a clear shot at the Elite but he thought on letting him do the walking up the hill in search of his enemies. Burton didn't know why the Elite opened fire on his own race and really didn't want to find out. Night fell quickly and the commander lost sight of the Elite. He took advantage of the night slipped under some very thick trees and fell fast asleep. The commander awoke to a phantom flying close overhead searching for something most likely the Elite. "Damn", the commander thought. The Phantom dropped a team of jackals and two of the new creatures. The commander looked for a good hill to hide on and snipe from. He found a hill with rocks for cover about 90 feet away and started into a dead sprint for them. As the commander arrived at the rocks he found the elite aiming his sniper at the group pf troops. The Elite spoke "Human either help me kill these murders or be on your way". Lloyd didn't know what to say in response except "Bring em on". He thought he could use an extra hand in dealing with the nuisance. The commander aimed his sniper rifle a the jackal and opened fire. The Elite had taken the Brute out. The rest of the enemies went down with ease. "Why did you ask me t help you kill your own race", Burton asked. The Elite replied "The Brutes have gone to far and shall pay for spilling the blood of my brothers. The Prophets have lied to us the Elites have disbanded from the covenant and are in full assault on the Brutes. We need all the help we can get human." Burton didn't know what to say or do, the shock of it all. He thought "Should I trust a creature that has killed thousands of humans? Not much choice. I could use the backup". "Yes I will help you if you help me find my team". The Elite agreed. Burton then asked " Hey pall" (he thought this was probably the first time in the universe that a human called a covenant pall),"what is your name"? The Elite replied "Noozamile". "Noozamileie huh wow that's original" replied Burton. "My name is Lloyd". "So Noozamile where are you taking me to"? The Elite replied "My LZ awaiting orders of what to do next. There may be a Phantom there which we can use to transport you to your team. We are now brothers in the same war Lloyd. We shall fight or die on the same team. An hour ticked off of Lloyds Mission clock and they had finally arrived at the LZ of Noozamilie. A pulse of fear rose through the commanders body as they approached because of the amount of guards posted at the base. He thought "If they wanted to kill me they would have already" Noozamilie took him to an old temple which was probably over a thousand years old and met with a single silver Elite named Zommile. Zommilie asked " So this is one of our new allies in the war" Lloyd replied "Whoa I didn't agree to anything yet, First you have to get me to my team so I can link up with commander Keyes and see if she will want to trust your race. We cant just trust your race, I mean after all you have killed millions of innocent people in the human/ covenant war". Zommilie replied "I will supply you with armored transportation to your team. The Elites would be most great full if your race would help ours, and we will help your race defend your home world." Lloyd thought "If the elites brought their ships to earth and fought on our side we may have a chance". "So where's the Phantom"?
Unforseen Allies part-2
Date: 20 January 2005, 1:55 AM
Zommilie had agreed to take the commander to his team with plenty of friendly Elite escorts.
"When we arrive at my squad you should let me do the explaining Noozamilie", I implied.
"Agreed, you will do the talking, but what if your team resists"? "You let me worry about that". I yelled over the sudden uprising in commotion of the elite crew. I then found out what all of the commotion was.
Just bellow the Phantom where roughly fifteen of my original thirty men team warding of a wave of what looked like balloons.
"Warriors prepare to help our new brothers ward off this infestation". Noozamilie commanded of his Elites at attention. The Phantom opened fire on the flood carefully hitting the flood only, as the Elites and the commander were deployed out of the Phantoms grav lift.
I started looking for the second in command of my men and the assault stopped. The infection forms disappeared. I found second in command of my hell jumpers Lieutenant Jessica Hallway, and explained the current situation with the Elites sudden "change of heart" The lieutenant had the same thoughts as I had when Noozamilie asked for my help. The Lieutenant agreed due to their current situation on this flood breeding ground.
No sooner had she agreed a huge carrier form fell out of no where and exploded harmlessly, but replaced two of the infection forms, which were easily delt with until we realized here it had fallen from. One of the In amber Clad's pelicans were hovering roughly thirty feet over head packed full of all sorts of flood bastards.
"ODST's lets haul ass and jump in our new friends ride that's an order to, no complaining!" I screamed.
It was one cramped ride back to the Elites LZ but it was better than walking. On the trip back the I couldn't help but over hear two of my men talking about whether or not to trust the new alliance. I walked over to the jumpers and told them what Zommilie had told me.
"Listen hell jumpers the commander of these Elites had told me if we help them get revenge on the Brutes for killing their brothers then he agreed to take his entire fleet to earth, link-up with the human fleet, and fight to the death protecting our world. So in other words if you want to keep your current jobs and not be vehicle repair boy than shut the mouth's and show some restraint!"
The disgruntled marines managed a shallow, "Yes sir!"
The Phantom touched down in the LZ and everyone unloaded from the Phantom. I wondered where the flood had manage to steal that pelican. I asked the commander if she knew what had happened.
"Commander I thought you had known the flood had taken over the In amber Clad. Don't worry though almost all of her crew were on Halo when they took her. Commander Keyes made it off the ship, but we have scattered reports that she is being held captive by a force of Brutes while trying to secure the Index."
This all came as a huge shock to me. The flood of all creatures took the ship.
I started towards the ancient temple where Zommilie was and told him of the current situation with our ship and my commander. He agreed that immediate action was to be takes to secure the index and my commander. Zommilie called in fifteen Phantoms along with a squad of Banshees for an escort, and headed for the control room where the Brute known a Tartarus was supposed to be with Keyes.
As we approached the control room I noticed that there was an abandoned Scarab, which looked like it had fired at the doors to force them opened. As we walked in the control room we were all stunned to find many fallen Brute copses on the floor. The Elites took deep satisfaction in the mangled messes on the floor ahead.
I could have sworn that I had heard a human voice come from one of the corridors beyond so we made our way there. As we approached the voice I was overwhelmed with joy to see Sergeant Johnson in one piece aiming at a huge Brute in the center of the platform with a shield of some sort.
"Good to see you sir!"
"The sarge said, "Right back at ya commander, where have you been? You missed one hell of a fight! Grab a Plasma sniper and help take that over powered tyrant out!"
"Hey Noozamilie lets take that thing out" I yelled.
He and his Elites were already halfway on the platform by then. Now came the thing that I loved to do snipe. It took three hits to bring the overpowering creature's shield out, but he took out six Elites during this time. Only two Elites were left Noozamilie, and an Elite with armor which I had never seen before. Johnson told me that the Elite was a good friend of his. I guessed that it must have done something good on the sarges side.
"That is the Arbiter." He said.
The Arbiter and Noozamilie attacked the Brute while his shields were down with energy swords at the ready and dropped him dead. Commander Keyes at that moment was on the platform and snatched the index. I thought good its over but then there was this rumbling sound and then Halo fired! One of my hell jumpers said "Oh man this is it we die in this ring." roughly thirty seconds later 343 Guilty Spark had said that Halo had sent out a signal for the other active rings to switch for remote activation.
Keyes asked "Where can the rings be activated from?" Keep in mind getting a straight answer from one of these things was like talking to a parrot.
Spark then said "The rings can be fired from the arch which is somewhere near your home world reclaimers!"
I then spoke, "Commander I believe we should hook up with the Elites and make an emergency jump to earth. I mean the Cole protocol was obsolete they already know where Earth is."
Keyes agreed, and Zommilie took us straight to the Destroyer Unrelenting Justice, and led a huge fleet to Earth .
Unforseen Allies ch-3
Date: 5 February 2005, 9:35 PM
"Noozamilie, what's our ETA to Earth?"
"Our fleet will arrive at your home world in about an one of your Earth hours."
As I sat down in one of the covenants command chairs on the bridge of the destroyer Unrelenting Justice I spoke with Commander Keyes.
"When we get to Earth you will have to tell the fleet about our new alliance with the covenant before they shoot us out of the water with the MAC platforms."
"I am preparing what I will say to the fleet at this moment, so just relax." Captain Keyes said trying to calm me down.
"Lloyd!" Noozamilie shouted. "We are receiving a very garbled emergency subspace transmission ordering any UNSC ships to form a defensive parameter around your planet. Why would they do this almost all of our ships were whipped out when we first attacked."
"Noozamilie, can you increase the reactor output capacity of the ships to 100% so we can get to Earth faster? I want to find out what is going on. They may just be preparing for another attack." I bellowed not even thinking of asking Commander Keyes.
"Yes, that should make out ETA 10 minutes."
"Great, That should give the Commander enough time to prepare her speech to the UNSC."
As the covenant fleet prepared to decelerate there was a hint of anxiety in the air as Earth appeared in the large view screen. In the view screen was a very battle scarred Africa. It looked as if a nuclear bomb had went off, but it was actually the effect of the Prophet of Regret jumping from New Mombassa. Then appearing on the view screen were the UNSC' s finest ships. Surprisingly many of the ships and MAC's had survived. Most importantly the three destroyers Zeus, Athena, and Prometheus were still battle ready forming around Earth.
"Noozamilie, open a system wide transmission." captain Keyes ordered.
"Yes, system wide transmission activated." Noozamilie replied.
"To all UNSC ships, this is Commander Keyes of the UNSC ship Inamber Clad. We are aboard the covenant fleet lead destroyer Unrelenting Justice. The Elites have disbanded from the covenant and joined our side and are willing to join our fleet to defend Earth. Please hold fire! I repeat hold your fire!" Keyes pleaded to the fleet.
On the view screen the three destroyers slowly advanced on the covenant fleets position and readied their MAC rounds and Nuke launchers.
"Commander, the three lead ships are targeting our engine room, if they fire we wont stand a chance with our shields down." Noozamilie informed the Commander.
"Commander Keyes. This is admiral Gray aboard the Zeus. How can we believe that the Elites are on our side?"
"If the Elites were going to have killed my crew they would have already here is the Elder Elite Zommilie."
"Greetings, I am the Elder Elite Ones' Zommilie, I command all of these ships you see on your view screens. Now you can rest assured that my blessings are with you. We are now brothers in the same war against the prophets. We will help you safeguard your home worl...."
Before Zommilie had finished his sentence a huge ship twice the size of the Unrelenting Justice appeared out of slip space about a kilometer off the moons surface and fired at the Zeus. As the Plasma beam was about to impact the Zeus the covenant Frigate Prosperous Journey had jumped to slip for a millisecond just enough to come in between the Zeus and the beam and braced for impact. The Prosperous was badly damaged but still had a kick in it.
"Ok. That is all the proof I need, tow that ship to our fleet and link up with the rest of our fleet, Our new allies, we have some fighting to do!" Admiral Gray bellowed.
The massive covenant fleet moved to position around Earth and readied to fight. During this move the Super Ship that fired upon the Zeus had not moved.
"This is admiral Gray to all MAC's reposition and fire at the first sign of trouble."
"This is Spartan 117 to any UNSC personnel respond."
"Spartan 117 this is admiral Gray what in the hell are you doing on that Super Ship?"
"Well sir, I'm finishing this god for saken fight."
"How do you plan on accomplishing this Master Chief?"
"The same way that I usually get things done, I kill it."
"Ok Master Chief , we'll try and pierce threw the ships hull and send reinforcements. What is your location?"
"I don't know, I'll send you my coordinates and don't fire on this section."
"I wouldn't dream of it master chief."
The Zeus received the Master Chiefs coordinates and the Admiral sent out a fleet wide transmission ordering all ships and MAC's to fire at a section of the ship that was close to the master chiefs position but wouldn't kill the man.
"Ok fleet lets rescue the Master Chief. We will fire every thing we can at this section of the Super ship."
"Sir this is ODST Commander Burton, I am requesting to board one of the Long sword's loaded with the best of my men to transport over to the Super Ship and rescue the Master Chief before the fleet blasts the hell out of it,"
"Agreed Commander, you rescue the chief and we will do our best to keep that thing from getting a clear shot at Earth. Load up Commander you have five minutes."
"Yes sir"
I had to gather at least five of my best men and women for a possible suicide mission. I went straight to lieutenant Jessica Hallway. She was a tough little lady and would come in handy in a tight situation. Next I gathered the Johnson twins. These two boys were the lucky sons of sergeant Johnson. They were some of the best shooters on my squad. I then got pilot Grissum to fly the pelican to the super ship. He was with the one of the best flight squads which was codenamed Gods Helpers. Finally I chose explosive expert Ned Fenton who once managed to destroy six covenant tanks with a lotus anti tank mine. We all suited up with weapons and ammo an headed off for the Long sword.
About thirty seconds later we were in the Unrelenting Justices launch bay and boarded the Long sword.
Grissum fired the engines on the on the Long sword and waited for the Admirals go ahead.
"Fleet! Open fire!" The Admiral ordered.
A second ticked by and the entire fleet fired at the one. The Superheated plasma, missiles, and MAC rounds struck the Super Ship and boiled the Armour away. Grissum launched from the Unrelenting Justice and headed straight for the Super Ship.
As the tiny Long sword got closer to the Super Ship it started to glow at the tip of the dorsal structure. The Ship turned, aimed at the ships over Africa and fired a huge burst of what looked like the Covenants original plasma, but ten times the size, at the Athena and destroyed her taking out two more ships in the explosion.
The Super Ship now had a clear shot at New Mombassa. What was the fascination of that continent to the covenant so great? The question had to wait. Finally the small Long sword was able to reach the massive hole the fleet was able to burn into the ship.
"Ok men suit up in our new zero gravity space suits and prepare to kill what ever is on that ship and rescue our good old friend!"
"Yes sir!" My squad shouted as they all suited up.
Outside the Super Ship the main weapon started to glow even brighter than before and prepared to fire at the surface of Earth! As the ship discharged the plasma, a new ship appeared out of slip space. It was the Covenant city High Charity. The weapon impacted High Charity's shield and went straight through half of the ships Armour.
"This is Cortana to the fleet, do not let that ship enter Earth, if it does it will activate the Halos and destroy the universe. We have to destroy that ship right now regardless of the Master Chief being aboard!"
Out side of High Charity, Cortana warmed the plasma launchers and prepared to fire at the Super Ship.
Unforseen Allies Ch-4
Date: 21 February 2005, 7:39 PM
*To the people who have read this story on http://www.takeforum.com, it is changed a bit. Enjoy.*
--------------------------------------------------------
As the door of the Long sword opened and came to a subtle rest on the metallic floor of the Forerunner ship, there was a small hint of anxiety among my squad. Ever since we were granted permission by the Admiral to rescue the Master Chief we felt obliged to do our best in this mission. The Master Chief was roughly two decks above their current position.
"Ok squad, I think we should break into two groups. Team alpha, will consist of myself, Ned, and Lieutenant Hallway. Team Zeta, will consist of Grissum and the Johnson's. My team will secure a route to rescue Master Chief. Zeta, you will stay behind and protect our horse and chariot out of this place. At any sign of trouble high tail it back to the Long sword and head back to the fleet. Ok, move out!"
"Sir, good luck and keep your eyes downrange sir!" Grissum managed to say over the speakers ok my Hell jumper suit.
As my team passed through a section of doors they sealed behind us.
"Sir I am reading oxygen being pumped through these vents, it should be safe to breath now." Lieutenant Hallway busted through my helmet speakers.
"Ok lets keep the helmets on just in case." I interjected.
"Sir movement straight ahead." private Jake Johnson bellowed.
No more than thirty feet ahead of us through the blast doors came two of the largest monstrosities I had ever seen. They appeared to be Covenant Hunters but something was different, in a bad way.
Bulbous sickly yellow growths covered its usually stark blue armor. Flood growths.
"Fire at will!" I bellowed as I raised my Battle rifle, thumbing the zoom. The twins simultaneously readied their rocket launchers and fired, two flaming rockets flew parallel to each other and impacted the had been Hunters. They exploded into a concentrated ball of flame, blowing chunks of Flood biomatter in every direction.
We stood staring, waiting for the smoke to settle. I turned to the twins to say something when I heard a deafening roar which seemed to drive into me, a piercing sound of horror.
For the first time I could remember the cold numb embrace of true fear was upon me. I had never seen anything take a direct hit from a rocket.
The things charged forward like blood thirsty bulls, yelling and howling as they approached at unnatural speeds.
"Team, stand strong, and fire at will." I ordered, thinking of myself wanting to go back the way I came.
No sooner had I ordered my team, I heard familiar plasma discharges. Then I felt the heat of one of the plasma bullets passing just above my head and impacting one of the Creatures. Then I heard Elite foot steps coming just behind us, and firing.
"Team, fall back and regroup." I ordered.
All of my team acknowledged and retreated. We moved to the Elites position and prepared to fight the creatures again. The Elites had a little surprise waiting for the once proud Hunters. It was the Elites own Hunter pairs which immediately attacked the mutated creatures. They both fired the massive Fuel Rod guns. The guns struck the massive creatures with devastating results, and melted more than half of the mutated Hunter bodies. The horrid creatures still had a bit of fight left in them, and tried their hardest to find us without their heads. The Elites Hunters made sure that they would never get that opportunity again. In unison they rose their massive shields and sliced through the bodies of the beasts. Killing the craving of our blood along with it.
"Noozamilee, what exactly are you doing here? And thank you for the backup." I said.
"Lloyd, I am in no way here to help you rescue your Master Chief. We are only here to deny this Prophet access to your land. We do not wish the holy rings to activate." Noozamilee stated.
"Well, what exactly do you have in mind?" I pondered.
"My Elites, and I have been given the most honorous of duties. We have been given the task of planting plasma bombs anywhere we see fit to cause the most damage." Noozamilee told me.
"Nice, but you will listen to me and help us rescue our boy. The Master Chief is near what we believe is this ships Engine core. You can plant the explosives there. If you have a problem with this than you are basically telling me we are enemies again" I spoke.
As I finished my demands I leveled my Battle Riffle at Noozamilee's head. As I did this I realized that my team did the same thing. I knew we stood no chance at winning this fight but we were going to damn well try.
"Lower your weapons, you know as well as I do that this is pointless." Noozamilee replied.
"No this isn't pointless, this is where we see if you and your race can receive orders from us." I replied.
A slight growl, and I heard him say, "Agreed, we will assist you and you clan, and plant the explosives in the engineering section."
"Okay then, first lets see exactly what we were just trying to kill." I ordered.
As we approached the still smoldering corpses of the once fear full hunters, I realized that this was indeed a Flood infected body. Why did these creatures only appear until now?
"Hey Noozamilie, have you ever seen this before?" I asked.
"No, it is almost impossible to do." Noozamilee replied.
"I think I know why we never see any Hunter Flood forms." Lieutenant Hallway stated.
"Well then shoot Lieutenant." I ordered.
"Well, you see, the Hunters always fire their Fuel Rod guns. I think that the Hunter race has developed a case of Boreans syndrome. This a an immunity to the infection forms. They cant change the DNA of the Hunters in quick enough time before they get the syndrome, and their small bodies are basically destroyed before it can do any thing." The Lieutenant informed us.
"Well, if that's true how did these poor bastards get infected?" I questioned her.
"It's really to soon to jump to conclusions now. May I suggest that we take a sample back to the fleet." The Lieutenant asked.
"Granted, but you get to be the lucky one to take the sample all the way." I replied.
Thirty minutes had passed by and we were two more doors from the Master Chiefs position. As we came to some more blast doors, I could hear the familiar blasts of SMG firing.
"Team, lets haul ass, the Chiefs in trouble." I ordered.
Our now Human, Elite, and Hunter squad ran at full speed through the doors. There was where we saw the Master Chief trying to hold off some more Flood. This time it were every Flood on known data base, and the newest addition, the Hunter Flood.
"Master Chief, this way, through the blast doors." I ordered him.
The Master Chief broke into a dead sprint toward the doors.
"Lieutenant, once the Chief is through seal the doors." I ordered, while taking out a carrier form coming up on the Master Chief.
"Yes sir!" She replied.
The Master Chief came bursting through the door. The Lieutenant hit a button and they sealed with a huge clank right behind him. No sooner had they sealed the door started to bang from the other side.
"What in the hell are they doing here?" The Master Chief demanded to know raising his SMG to Noozamilee's head.
"Master Chief, lower your weapon please, we have stated a new alliance with the Elites and their followers. They are basically the reason that we were able to rescue you." I informed him.
"Ok, but we need to haul some ass to escape the Flood behind this door. It wont hold forever." Master Chief stated as the door started to buckle.
"Sorry Noozamilee, it looks as if the Fleet will have to deal with the ship. The combined efforts of the ships should be enough." I informed the Elite.
"What do you mean combined efforts?" Master Chief pondered.
"The UNSC ships, and the Elite ships. Oh and Chief before we lost contact with the Fleet, there was a report that Cortana had just jumped High Charity into the line of fire. No word on if she survived." I informed the Chief.
"Ok, lets get back to the Long sword." Chief stated grimly.
As we were about to pass through another blast door we heard an explosion followed by a huge clang. It could have only been the Blast Door failing. "Lieutenant, seal these blast doors, Privates, lets lay down some Lotus mines for our guests." As my team jumped to their tasks the Elites were on guard ready to fire at anything that came behind us. The doors sealed and the mines were set we were back on our way.
As we arrived at the Long sword the Elites boarded their Phantom and were air born. As We bored the Long sword the We heard an explosion that shook the ship. It was our guests and they were close, to close for comfort. As the Launch Bay doors gave way thousands of flood were now present.
"What idiot's, there going to die in the vacuum of space when we open the doors." Grissum stated.
With a few clicks of the control panel, Grissum had the huge doors open. And all of the oxygen was sucked out with as were some of the flood. There was something different though, they were headed straight for us.
"No something's wrong, these Flood aren't dieing their headed straight for us. Get us out of here now Grissum." I ordered.
Flood were now all around the Long sword as we lifted. They were easily shaken off but how did they still survive in space? As we cleared the ship we were able to contact the fleet.
"Admiral, this is Commander Burton, we are all clear of the ship mission successful, I repeat mission successful." I cried into the speaker. We are out side of the ship, and our friendly Elites are to.
"Roger that." The Admiral replied.
As soon as the conversation had ended I heard "Open fire!" on a fleet wide transmission. Through the Long sword's window we were able to see the Plasma turrets on the all 300 of the Elites ships discharge at the Forerunner ship. Then the UNSC ships launched all of their available nuclear missiles and MAC rounds into the ship. The last to fire were the 150 remaining orbital platforms around Earth. As the last of these super MAC's hit the ship, we could see the destruction of the fleet on the ship. Massive holes were the MAC's hit, boiled armor from the Plasma. When any other ship would have defiantly been obliterated the ship merely retreated back to Slip-Space.
"Good job men, now we have to rescue Cortana." I ordered.
"I couldn't agree more." Master Chief replied, raising his Battle Rifle and reloading it.
Unforessen Allies- Ch 5
Date: 8 April 2005, 11:30 PM
As Grissum pushed the throttle of the tiny Long Sword to full, my men got ready for whatever lay ahead in our attempt to rescue Cortana. The Master Chief was loading up on extra ammo for his Battle Riffle and the rest of us were mending our wounds inflicted from the rescue of the Chief.
"I don't under stand," the chief said. "How could she have been able to jump from delta Halo, before I left from High Charity she said that the Forerunner ship was the main power source for the massive ship. If it were uncoupled from it, she should be dead in space floating near Halo."
"Well Chief, I guess we'll have to find out when we get there." I said trying to calm the Chief down. "Grissum, did you get a comm. open to High Charity yet, we have to contact Cortana."
"Sir, the link will be set in about thirty seconds, you may only have a few moments to talk with her because something's interfering with the link." Grissum stated.
As I strapped some Fragmentation grenades to my belt I heard Grissum say, "Got it, comm. open." Cortana, this is Commander Lloyd Burton, we are boarding High Charity give you safe transport back to the UNSC with Master Chiefs help."
As we waited for a response static filled the speakers than, a garbled voice, " Hello Commander, this is Cortana, I need to speak with Spartan 117." the AI demanded.
"Hello Cortana, it's been, I'd say five hours since we saw each other last. May I add how did you jump here without the Forerunner ship?" the chief asked.
"We'll Chief, it's a long story, all I can tell you is tat there are Flood on board and Gravem......" That was all she could get to us before the transmission was cut out.
As the words flood reached the ears of my men, grief came upon all of their faces. " Master Chief, what was the last word Cortana said. Grave what, and what it is it?"
"Well Commander, you see Gravemind is what Cortana and I thought of as the king flood. It has control over all flood. It has abilities to transport, that's how I was able to get aboard the High Charity. If Gravemind is on board, then that may explain how Cortana jumped the ship." Master Chief grimly stated.
"How fun, a smart flood with specially abilities. Team load up with every thing we have, Lieutenant Hallway contact Noozamilee, and tell him to follow us in to High Charity" I ordered.
"Sir, we are receiving a comm. channel from his phantom." The Lieutenant put it over the speakers.
"Commander, we want to help you on your quest to find your A..I..."
"Permission granted Noozamilee. Follow us in." I ordered.
Grissum piloted the Long sword into the massive hole that the Forerunner ship was able to put into high charity before we went after the Chief. The hole went right into the city. As the tiny ships entered the ship we were able to see the ghostly burning remains of the Inamber Clad in the side of a tower. Fire was burning through the Inamber Clad from the escaping oxygen. Bodies floated through the gravitation less city. If there were any flood out here in the city they are most likely dead. The city itself was a mess. The Covenant buildings were either destroyed or burning with a greenish fire from the chemicals which were in some of the buildings.
"Sir, receiving coordinates from Cortana. They are coming from the Inamber Clad." Lieutenant Hallway said.
"Damn it. That's how the Flood were able to get on High Charity, where is she." The Chief demanded.
"The coordinates are coming from engineering deck." The Lieutenant said.
"Okay, Grissum from the extent of damage to the Inamber Clad, I believe that launch bay two should be undamaged. See if you can still get the bay doors open. They should open if the ship is turned to emergency back up power."
Grissum sent the necessary code sequence and the bay doors started to part, and both ships entered the bay. As both ships landed on the deck the Bay doors sealed and Cortana must have started to pump oxygen through the vents. When we got confirmed reports of stable oxygen we assembled out side of the ships.
"Noozamilie, leave some of your Elites behind to guard the ships. The rest of us will be going to Engineering." I ordered.
"Agreed." Noozamilee said. "Azumee, and Zaztrumaa stay aboard the phantom and kill anything that is not a brother.
My team headed for the bay doors. As we approached the motion sensor of the doors was malfunctioning, so the Hunter pairs charged at the doors. As they impacted the doors buckled and hit the deck with a loud crash that seemed to seemed to echo throughout the ship. I stepped onto the deck I turned my head in time to see something through the dim emergency lights of the hall. I leveled my Battle Rifle and emptied a clip into what ever it was that was waiting. A torso of a Human Marine fell to the deck. I walked to the Combat form Marine. I bent over to take the Marines Dog Tag, as I did this another Combat form came from the shadows. As I braced my self for the worst Noozamilee took the beats down.
"Good save Noozamilee," I said. "Listen up team, If the Inamber Clad were taken over with the skeleton crew that was here than there should be a lot of our former friends here somewhere. If you see a Flood form do not hesitate to fire. They would probably much rather die now than continuing living as a Combat form. Understood."
"Yes sir!" My men said and surprisingly as well as the Elites.
As we neared a corner, a red dot on my armors motion sensor flared up. I turned on my helmets night vision, because the emergency lights provided by the ship weren't cutting it. I looked toward the red dot and was stunned to see a huge tentacle coming out of one of the atmosphere vents. " Master Chief, what is this?" I asked stunned.
"That, I believe is one of Grave Mind's many tentacles. It would probably be a good idea to stay away from it." Mater Chief said.
When Master Chief had finished his sentence, about fifteen more flood came rushing at us. "Fire at will!" I ordered. No sooner had the words left my mouth hot metal and plasma filled the hall dropping most of the Flood as others were killed by the explosions of the Exploders. As the last of the flood fell the stench of burnt flesh and the horrible stench of the menace Flood filled my helmet. I couldn't stand the smell so I turned my helmets air scrubbers on. While I was doing this an infection form came from the shadows and attacked Private Ned Gurlukavich! As the infection latched onto the body of the Private he fell instantly to the floor. The Master Chief took aim and fired at the green balloon. As the bullet impacted the balloon it exploded sending shards of what looked like confetti every where. The Private lay on the deck either dead or unconscious.
"Johnson's, take the Private back to the Long sword and stay put. If we do not return in another thirty minutes get off of the ships and go back to the Fleet."
"Yes Sir," they said picking the Private up. "Boy, he's a heavy sucker isn't he Jake?" John said to his brother trying to add a little humor to the situation.
We neared the Blast doors that sealed off Engineering from the rest of the ship. The crew must have tried to keep the Flood out of engineering which is why they sealed the doors, but they failed. "Lieutenant Hallway, see if you can crack the security code to get in while we cover your back." I ordered.
The Lieutenant got to work on her task and then came our task, keeping the Flood off of our asses. "Almost there, another minute." The lieutenant informed me. On my motion sensor red dots appeared every where in front of us. To conserve our ammunition the Hunter pair opened fire. As the massive discharge of plasma struck the Flood, they instantly melted to the deck. "Got it." The Lieutenant said as the Blast Doors parted releasing a greenish fog.
The Chief and I were the first to enter the massive room. The glow from the reactor was sufficient enough to see the whole room. Then a voice came out of nowhere. "Chief, I'm over here hurry."
It was Cortana and her small purple body appeared on the AI pedestal near the massive reactor. The Chief and I sprinted to her position and retrieved the AI.
"Okay, listen up boys we have exactly fifteen minutes to get out of the city before it is engulfed in the reactor explosion." Cortana said.
The instant she said this a huge red dot appeared on my sensor and was right in front of us. "Umm...Chief, would this be that Gravemind you were telling me about?" I asked.
Right before the Chief answered the creature said, "Yes, I am Gravemind and you shall be my first bodies I infect in order to take over the Control Room on Earth." The massive Gravemind said while taking one of it's tentacles and attacked the Chief and I. The tentacle was a foot from us, as the Hunters fired. The weapons instantly hit the tentacle and burned it. The Chief and I made a mad sprint for the Blast Doors. As we ran through the doors the Lieutenant resealed the doors. When they finally sealed there was a huge pounding sound from the other side.
"We should get moving, from my scans of Gravemind he should get through the door in five minutes. We have fifteen minutes to get off of the ship. So lets haul ass." The rambunctious AI said.
"Okay, listen up, we don't stop for anything. If there is something chasing us we out run it. If something is ahead of us the Chief and I will take care of it. Got it team?"
"Understood, lets get moving." Grissum anxiously said.
As we started running we heard some more Flood chasing us. My team even the Hunters did not fire. We were able to stay ahead of them until we got to the Launch bay. Their, we boarded our ships and got ready to fly. As Grissum sat in the pilots seat he said, "We will be ready to fly in thirty seconds." I thought it was thirty seconds too long. We had five minutes left to get off the ships. The engines came to life just as Gravemind appeared out of thin air. The Phantom was already airborne and firing at the massive creature. The weapons appeared o do nothing but agitate it even more. As both ships were now airborne we made for the Bay doors. Grissum typed in the code and the doors parted. There was an explosion as the oxygen escaped into the atmosphere less city. Gravemind was being pulled out as he finished in thin air again. Both of the tiny ships cleared the Bay doors. As we were about to leave the city I managed a glance back at the Inamber Clad. Explosions puckered the Hull as the reactors started to blow. We cleared the city and made it halfway to the Fleet. On the view screen we were able to watch the massive High Charity turn into it's own sun.
"Commander, this is admiral Grey. It's good to have you in one piece. What happened to High Charity?"
"That Admiral, I would be more than happy to answer when I get back." Cortana said, as she closed the link.
"Okay Cortana, that leaves one question un answered. How did you jump High Charity without the Forerunner ship?" Master Chief asked.
"As I exchanged some information, like what Human history was and little things like that, and he explained more powers on what a Halo can do. They can do much more than kill. The Forerunners used the rings to get to Earth in seconds rather than hours. Before we left Halo he did something with the ring, he told me to pilot the city through the center of the Ring with maneuvering thrusters and we were in something of a slip space bubble and then we were orbiting Earth. He wanted to land on Earth to take control of whatever is located in New Mombassa."
"We'll what are we going to do now?" Lieutenant Hallway asked.
I replied, "We get ready for the next battle!."
Delta Halo
0800 Hours, May 2, 2552 (military Calendar)
As the Gravemind appeared out of nowhere on Delta Halo's Control Room. He watched on a screen ,which the captured 2401 Penitent Tangent installed, a huge ship appearing from slip space. The ship was badly damaged and contacted the Cruisers that were already in orbit. Gravemind realized the ship as the Forerunner ship. With that prize in mind Gravemind rested for yet another transport. This transport would be different how ever. This time he would be transporting himself and his entire Flood army, which consisted of thousands. With the power of Halo at his control he would even teleport the ring. Of course he would need years of undisturbed rest for this.
Unforeseen Allies Can this be?
Date: 8 April 2005, 11:35 PM
Earth Orbital defense Super Station Jezzabel
0801Hours, May 2, 25599 (military calendar)
"Hello, Admiral White, is my ship supplied for the jump today?" I asked excitedly as this would be my ships first actual jump.
"Don't be in such a hurry Captain Burton, she'll be ready." Admiral White replied. "Damnit Spark, will you stop with the constant humming?"
343 Guilty Spark after returning from Delta Halo was for some reason amazed to see Earth.
"Inform me on the bridge of the Erebus." I said exiting the bridge of the Plasma Station.
The Plasma Station was one of a few modified MAC stations that now use Covenant technology combined with our own. These new stations can launch a huge ball of Plasma at sub light speeds. There has also been additions to all ships currently in the UNSC. All ships are now fitted with shields and at least three Plasma Turrets. Using the combined technology the UNSC has also created a new class of ship. The classification of the new series is simply the Chaos class. The Erebus is the first ship in the series. This huge ship is easily twice the size of the UNSC's Carriers.
"Hello, Noozamilee. Are you ready to make history?" I asked.
"I still do not understand this history which your race speaks of, but if you are implieng the slip of the Erebus, than yes, I would be most dignified if I were to be here when it jumps." Noozamilee replied.
"You do remember that you are the commander of the ship?" I said.
"These ranks your race refers to are meaningless." The Elite replied. "If I wanted control of the ship I would simply kill you."
Noozamilee finished his sarcastic sentence and than walked to one of the many computers on the Bridge. The one in particular that he went to was ship status. He made sure that every system was operating at normal levels. He checked to see if the Plasma and Mac launchers were ready incase of any trouble. The last thing he checked was the new style of reactor. The Erebus would be the fastest ship of the entire Human, Covenant fleet.
"Captain Burton, this is Admiral White, The Erebus is read for her maiden voyage. We are beginning release sequence now. Good luck." The Admiral said.
As the massive docking clamps of the Jezzabel released from the Erebus, her reactors hummed to life. The vibrations of the Engine room were felt throughout the entire ship. She was ready to jump.
"Okay crew, this is your captain speaking, prepare for Slip-Space jump in five minutes. Report to stations and inform the Bridge immediately of any problems." I said over the ship intercom.
"Prometheus, are all systems operating at peak performance?" I asked.
A holographic image of the Greek Titan Prometheus appeared on the bridges A.I. Console. Prometheus was a copy of Cortana, which she had made before her central crystalline structure shattered and she in any case died. With her help whoever Prometheus was the smartest A.I. Of any yet created. "Yes Captain, she is ready to jump at your command. Countdown to Shaw -Fujikawa -covenant jump. Ten seconds."
As the massive ship suddenly vanished from the view of the Jezzabel, Admiral White said a prayer in his thoughts. He had thought of the stories that he had heard of the first attempts to jump to Slip Space. The first ship to attempt was the Lighting Hope. That ship was in Slip for thirty seconds before reappearing in thousands of pieces. The Erebus was built well, but was she ready for one of the fastest jumps any ship has made to date?
Delta Halo
0825 Hours May 2, 2559 (military colander)
Deep in the recess of Delta Halo's control room, Gravemind awoke. 2401 Penitent Tangit greeted the massive flood form with the utmost disrespect. "Why you disgusting being of existence, why wont you just die? I will forbid you from doing what you want with my Ring." 2401 Penitent Tangit finished his sentence and Gravemind took hold of him and tore his tiny body frame apart with his massive tentacle.
Gravemind activated the monitor on the massive wall of the control room. On the screen he saw a massive armada of ships, and what the Covenant refer to as Holy cities. Leading the armada was what Gravemind wanted, the Forerunner ship. With this ship he would be able to do what he had wanted for countless centuries. The ships suddenly vanished and Gravemind knew it was time. He tapped into Halos control center and prepared himself for one of his most dangerous moves he would ever make.
UNSC ship Erebus
0829 May 2, 2559 (military calendar)
Through the Bridge windows of the Erebus, I could see something different. We weren't in the nothingness of Slip Space, but in an extraordinary Bluish, red vortex. Since this wasn't what we realized as Slip Space I dubbed it just the Chaos jump.
"Okay, Prometheus, stop the ship, I think we proved that she can fly. Hey Noozamilee, how do you think the ride was?" I asked.
"I am honored to be the one who was able to be in command of this vessel." He replied.
"We'll, I am in command, not you, but maybe one day we can work...." Prometheus interrupted me mid sentence. "Captain I am receiving an urgent message for us to stop what we are doing and jump straight back to Earth. It appears that Jupiter out post nine has just been destroyed, but before communications ended they sent this."
A video appeared on the forward view screen and it showed what the outpost had seen before being destroyed. Thousands of ships where in orbit of Jupiter. Glassing what outpost's where there. "Prometheus how many ships do you estimate there are?" The smart A.I replied, "I estimate that there are at least four thousand ships in this cluster alone."
"Prometheus, how fast will we get to Earth at fifty percent reactor capacity?" I asked.
"If my calculations are correct it will take fifteen minutes." he replied.
"Okay, bring the reactors to 100 percent capacity, I didn't want to push the ship this hard, but we need to get to Earth in a reasonable amount of time." I informed my crew.
"At that speed we will reach Earth in two minutes." He informed me.
"All hands report to battle stations, we're heading home".
The Erebus moved forward and then disappeared in a blinding flash of light.
UNSC ship Erebus
0831 May 2, 2559 (military calendar)
The Erebus exited slip space. The entire Fleet which was consisted of over seven hundred Covenant vessels, one thousand UNSC ships, and four hundred platforms.
"With proper calculations sir, I believe the enemy armada will be here in eleven minutes." Prometheus said.
"Captain, This is Admiral White, I want you to take the Zeus and the Galactic to greet our old friends. I will stay in command of the orbital defenses." The Admiral ordered.
"Understood." I said. "Captains Beker, and Halzey follow my lead."
"Prometheus, bring the ship about and head to coordinates 108-90588-125 and send the NAV link to the Zeus and Galactic." I ordered.
As the three ships slowed at the NAV marker, the Armada appeared form Slip. That's when we saw that we were in trouble. There where thousands of ships. Hundreds of them where Holy cities. Huge Covenant stations most likely harboring ships and crew for the assault of Earth.
"Prometheus, fire when all of the weapons are charged." I ordered.
As the magnetic couplings for the MAC round charged, the archer missiles fired and so did the turrets. A massive discharge indicated that the MAC lug had been fired. Even with the Erebus's ability to fire three MAC rounds simultaneously, like the Pillar of Autumn, They would only do so much damage to the Armada. The weapons of the three ships hurtled at the fleet, impacting countless ships. Eight were destroyed instantly.
"Well, eight down thousands left, Retreat back to the fleet." I ordered.
As the three ships turned headings and speed back to the fleet, something appeared behind the Erebus. It appeared on the sensors as a planetoid object. I realized it as no planet, it was Halo!
"How in the Hell did that get here?" I yelled, while looking at the ring which had appeared between us and the fleet.
"Sir, we will pass right through the center of the ring." Lieutenant Steier said.
The three ships passed through the massive rings center. While they did this they were able to view the continents of the ring. Some were very scared and absent of any life, while others were thick with forest, and ocean.
"Well I sure as hell don't miss this place one bit." I said.
"Sir, I am getting some kind of reading from the surface of the ring world. I don't know what to make of it." Prometheus said.
"Where is it emanating from?" I asked
On the view screen Prometheus had shown where this was coming from. It was a large structure that I realized was the control room where the Brute Tartarus died. It was the control room where Commander Keyes barely reached the index in time.
Noozamilee looked in amazement and disgust at this ring. This was the place where the Elites broke from the covenant, and many of his Brothers died.
The three ships had rejoined the fleet. All ships in the fleet where now ready to defend Earth. The Covenant Fleet opened fire. As the ships discharged their massive beams of Plasma, the ring glowed bright white. Where the weapons would have normally passed through the center of the ring they were deflected.
The lead enemy ships tried to pass through the ring as we had a few moments ago. The result for the ships was an explosion, and inevitable death in the cold vacuum of space.
Halo was beginning to glow again. As this was happening I realized that the Ring world stooped rotating.
Earth Orbital defense Super Station Jezzabel
0850 May 2, 2559 (military calendar)
"Spark, what in the hell is that thing doing here?" Admiral White asked.
Sparks eye changed from it's original Blue to a Yellowish color. His original chirpy voice was now serious, as if he had awoken.
"The ring has returned to the Forerunner home world. It is awaiting instructions from the Galactic Center Control Room. Why would you not know what Installation 05 is doing? It is preparing to annihilate all attackers of Earth. Next it will await orders from the control room. I don't understand why you ask such ridiculous questions, after all master, you are the Forerunners!"
|
