halo.bungie.org

They're Random, Baby!

Fan Fiction


Wings of Death Part 9: Friend or Foe?
Posted By: el_halo_diablo<funkmonker3lite@hotmail.com>
Date: 7 October 2002, 9:43 pm


Read/Post Comments

      Ah the joys Keys had dog fighting his colligues in the simulator, It seemed so innocent back then, ah the good old days. Yes the good old days of weekends when he was able to run through the open amber fields to get to his small secluded cottage. His wife always gretted him at the door, and he ate the most wonderful home cooked meal.

      Theese were one of the many things that Keys was admireing on his last few seconds of his life, before the missile hit him. He didn't want to look back at the missile, or look at the radar, so he just sat back, and relaxed himself. A large explosion that sent a shockwave throught the tiny corvett set off behind him. Keys slowly opened his eyes to see that the missile was off the radar.
"It must have been a miracle!" Keys shouted, seeing that he had lived.
Another explosion went off, forcing Keys to grab hold of a handle. He checked the radar to see dozens of sesmic charges coming towards him.
"Oh nevermind..." Keys said,"Those dumbasses just saved my life with one of their weapons against another!"
Keys put his hands back on the controls and the stick, and continued to fly.
      The asteriod belt was now being littered with sesmic charges. Each charge that went off obliterated any asteriod that was in range of its 100 meter blast. The entire side of the belt Keys was on was now just a big fireworks show, as great balls of blue exlplosions lit the surrounding area for a second, then faded. Blasts were going off every second, as Aspen and Trigger sat back, continueing to deploy the charges.

      Keys immediatly began to speed up as the charges became dangerously close to the ship, constantly knocking Keys off of the controls. Keys did every effort to get away from the great explosions and shockwaves. He knew that if he'd exit the asteriod belt, Aspen and Trigger would hunt him down, and he would be easy prey. Keys zooms by an open stretch where there are no asteriods in the center. Right be hind him are a set of charges that set off one every second, each one explodes closer and closer to Keys' ship. Keys looks back at the sesmic charges detonating closer and closer. everytime one went off, the shockwave got stronger and stronger. The external armor was showing fatigue from the constant blasts shaking the ship. Keys hands started to shake on the stick as the explosions start to knock pieces of armor off the speeding craft.

"...crap I'm all out." Aspen said looking at the inventory displays, showing and empty for the sesmic charges.
"Me too, Aspen." Trigger said,"but it will still be a while before the rest detonate."

      Explosions sent Keys' ship bouncing all over the place. Another warning went off, this time it was missile lock malfuntion. The Anvil II missile below the ship, began to sway in the evasive maneuvers. A charge detonated to the side of the ship, and the ships hull crumpled a bit from the impact. The charges were within 100 meters now, and keys head slammed on the front panel. Keys wiped the blood that was seeping from above his eyebrow, and cursed under his breath, trying to keep a steady course dispite all the wrenching explosions.

      The figures of ten perfectly built men and wemen walked down a dimly lit corridor, and walked through a door.

      A sesmic charge sped ahead of Keys, and Keys put on the emergency retro rockets to slow down. The charge went off about 110 meters ahead of him, and the ship faced a wall of pure kenetic energy, and the ship came almost to an abrupt stop, as it slammed into the shockwave. The structure of the ship stressed to keep intact. The Anvil II became detached, and dissapeared behind Keys, because it was going at a slower speed than him.

      The ten figures suited up in armor that only the famous SPARTANS II wore. They then continued into another room, securing the head pieces, and hiding their identity to anyone that would come across them.

      Keys looked back at his only good firepower which was now in the distance, and was out of reach. Another explosion hit close within the 100 meters, The right side of the ship's exterior armor melted a little, and the sensors showed that the next close hit would breech the hull, which wasn't good news. More explosions hit in al directions, and the protectant viewing glass infront of him started to get a strange inward angle to it, and began to crack at the sides. A sesmic charge exploded directly behind the corvett about 50 meters away, and one engine blew apart, and the other was severly damaged. The corvett was now going at a deadly pace. Keys saw another charge drift to his left side. It was too close, and he knew it would detonate any second.

      The Armored soldeirs walked in unison, grabbing their armorments like assult rifles, grenades, shotguns, and other assorted weapons. A door opened ahead of them in the corridor, and an emmense light radiated from the dorrway, lighting the dark corridor.

      "Ok Trigger, ready all your missiles." Aspen said as they accelerated down the asteriod belt.
"Oh why are you so cocky Aspen, there's no way he could have survived that."
"Don't underestimate Trigger, We've already lost too many doing that."
"uugh...yes sir, all Archer missiles unlocked."
"Thats more like it soldier." Aspen said as they sped down the asteriod.
      Aspen turned on the motion sensors to long range to pick up anything in a 5000 meter(about 3 miles) distance.
"Ok I'm picking up motion over in that direction." Aspen said squinting at the large object.
"Don't be paranoid Aspen," Trigger said,"It's just that large asteriod."
"mmhmm, yah you're right, lets continue." Aspen said. Aspen saw something drift in front of him at a very fast speed.
"THERE!" Aspen screamed, and fired all six of his archer missiles. The Archers obtained a lock on the USO. The missiles all hit the target and blew it to particles.
"Good Job Aspen!" Trigger said.
"Hmm, we should check the rest of the belt anyways."
The two pilots passed the large asteriod, which was one of the only left on that side of the belt because of all the sesmic charges.
"So uh after this, do we get victory cigars?" Trigger asked comicly.
Aspen chuckeled,"Heh heh, yah sure...but you're buying"
Trigger smiled,"fine but you're paying for the hookers."
"Aww you know what happened last time I picked them." Aspen laughed out.
They both broke out in laughter, and Trigger pounded on the controls. Trigger accedentally fired a laser into Aspen's ship when he was laughing, and the laser punched a hole into Aspen's fusion generator.
"Oh good one Trigger!" Aspen screamed to him as the power faded and the comm. channel went dead. Aspen maintained course without power, and Trigger kept pace with him.
      Aspen got out of his chair, and turned around to head to the back room to make repairs to the generator. As Aspen turned around, he looked out the window, too see the asteriod that was now behind him. He saw something glisten on the asteroid, and his eyes widened. Aspen ran to the comm.
"TRIGGER! IT'S KEYS! HE'S BEHIND US!" Aspen screamed, but the power was completly gone, and the transmission didn't get through. Aspen pounded on the glass to get Triggers attention who was on the right side of Aspen's ship.
      Trigger looked over at Aspens attempt to communicate through the window, bu didn't understand what he was trying to say. Trigger motioned back to Aspen who had a shocked face. Aspen made a picture of a gun with his hands, and pointed behind himself. Trigger jumped up out of his chair, and spun his body around to look behind his ship. His Eyes also widened when he saw what it was.


      Key's bloody face grimaced as he put his finger on the trigger of the dual gatling guns. Keys went to a accurate focused reticule, and aimed at the thrusters of Triggers ship. Keys pulled the trigger, and a mass of led rushed towards Trigger's back thrusters. The rounds of ammunition went throught the back thrusters, through the engines, and caused a breech in Trigger's ship. Trigger screamed as the ship and his body imploded.
"Aspen Aspen Aspen," Keys said to himself as he shook his head,"looks like you're the only one left."


      Aspen made the necissary repairs and rushed back to the cockpit, and establish a comm. channel with Trigger, only to find the remnants of his crumpled ship. He Shivered from fear, and turned to see Key's battered ship,
"one well placed bullet would destroy his ship." He thought to himself.
"Surrender Aspen, I don't want to kill you." Keys said over the comm.
The ship was still offline, but Aspen could turn it on now, but if he did, he would be killed, unless he had an advantage.
"Yes sir..." Aspen grinded his teeth at those words,"you may board my ship, I surrender."
"Verywell." Keys said.


      Keys made his way over to Aspen's ship, he thought of how lucky he was to have Aspens ship offline. He was almost killed by that last sesmic charge, but he fired his single thruster to use underside of the ship(Which was the only side that still ahd formitable armor on it) to take the damage. Keys' ship barely survived, and he found a huge asteriod to hide behind.

      Aspen waited for the perfect moment to make his move. He saw Keys slow down to a stop right behind him, and open up the bay doors for the grappling hooks. This was the perfect moment, and Aspen gunned the engines, turning on all the systems in the process. Aspen immeditaly sped behind Keys, and fired two pin-point shots of his laser, which melted both of Keys' Gatling guns.

"Shit." Keys said. The Gatling guns were his last defensive option, and now he had no weapons. He looked past Aspen at the large asteriod that was just about to pass them, but something else caught his eye. His eyes traveled over to the metallic shine of something approaching from the distance. Keys secretly scanned it while Aspen tried to establish a comm. link. The results on his scanner came up: It read that the object was an armed Anvil II missile. Keys thought why there would be a missile just floating around, but then he remembered when the sesmic charges hit, the missile became un-attached. The missile was approaching fast, so Keys fighured out its trajectory and moved into it's path.
Aspen got the comm. link through,"What the hell are you doing?" Aspen yelled at him, and moved into the path of the missile,"don't try to get away, you don't stand a chance."
      Keys now had Aspen where he wanted him, but had to stall for time before the misile arrived,"Ok, ok, before you kill me, I have one thing to tell you."



      The armored SPARTANS came into a large room filled with Pelicans, and other assorted vehichles. They all went straight for two pelicans, and loaded up in both of them. The Pelicans lifted up, and the hangar doors opened. The pelicans sped out of the hangar and into the sky.
One SPARTAN broke the silence,"So uh, what job are we doing for Stanforth today?"
A voice that would sound familiar to Keys answered the question,"We have an old friend to visit." The SPARTAN said, cocking his assult rifle.
"Rodger that, Master Chief" The other spartan replied, and the back hatch closed as they went off into space.


"What?" Aspen asked Keys,"Whatever you want to say, say it now."
"..." Keys just kept the lines open, and didn't answer.
"WELL?!?" Aspen screamed impatiently.
"Ok...I want you to tell Shara that I love her...and that her husband died..." Keys said, but kinda chuckled.
"What, what's so funny?" Aspen asked.
"umm..." Keys said noticing that the missile was about 100 meters behind Aspen,"there's missile behind you."
"ha, that fooled me once on training, but not again..I'm much smarter now." Aspen said admireing his intelligence.
Keys saw the missile five feet away from the ship before a briliant light erupted, tearing Aspen's ship to shreds.


      Keys gunned out of the asteriod belt, and set course to the closest world which had no name due to it being an outlaw world, and was out of the UNSC's jurisdiction.


      out in the vastness of space, floated Trigger's dead body. Next to his body was his demolished Glock. The only thing that remained in good condition on the gun was the key piece. A robotic arm reaces for the gun, and grabs the piece.
"Ok I've got it." One SPARTAN said.
"Ok It looks like there is one more piece floating in that asteriod belt, and another heading for that planet, it must be Keys."
"Yes well we'd better pick up that piece in the asteriod belt first." Master Chief said.
"You Don't want to kill Keys, do you? You want to give him a chance." One SPARTAN asked him.
"In my Heart, I will never kill Keys, but in my mind, I must." Master Chief said.
"SO are we gunna kill him or what?"

The Master Chief did not answer the question.


<Next Part: Part 10 Judgement>





bungie.org