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The Entar Chronicles Part 3
Posted By: Locke<Locke1588@aol.com>
Date: 4 May 2003, 5:28 PM


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Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.

-From "The Art of War" by commander Sun Tzu


The tribute to the Leviathan was truly a sight for all to behold. The massive Covenant fleet, with its many warships and fighters, ceased all fighting and retreated, then formed many massive lines before the giant steel giant called the Leviathan, each of immeasurable length. And then the signal came that all the prophets and priests had hopped for. The Leviathan stopped advancing on the planet just as the covenant fleet began to line up. Contact. Every individual on the planet Colchis and on the covenant fleet now knew that the Leviathan was aware. Either it was piloted, or it has a mind of it's own. The covenant fleet floated their motionless for a whole hour, until at last, the Leviathan responded.

But response is not always a good thing…

"Seal off the bridge doors, NOW!" the Elite scrambled as the door slammed shut. He fumbled clumsily for his weapon in the dark. Activating a plasma computer on the wall, he tapped into the surveillance banks.
"Oh crap, that thing is marking us, its preparing to fire!"
"What?" The priest demanded. That's impossible! Dannook is our god, our creator, he would never destroy us!" The Elite slammed his fist on the control pad and a new image appeared, a grid, displaying a dot for every ship in the covenant fleet. They were formed into a massive line, but one by one the dots were disappearing, like dominoes. "Dannook" has already marked every ship in the fleet and was taking even the heaviest cruisers down in one hit with some kind of blue laser turrets, mounted just under the fin on the huge craft.
"Creator, huh?" The Elite snarled. "I think you mean, destroyer!" The priest was terrified.
"We've got to get to a drop ship before that thing destroys us! It couldn't possibly be Dannook!"
"Quickly, the hangar is this way!" The Elite cried. He motioned to a Jackal. "And you, make sure the grunts stay in a strait line and don't wonder off! Have them hold hands or something!" There was a clash of metal and the clap of a plasma core explosion, as the cruiser next to theirs was destroyed. Flaming remnants pelted the side of their cruiser. On the plasma computer, the dot representing their ship began to flash, marking it as a target.
"Whoops". The Jackal mumbled. "Too late. We're all gonna die." The Jackal leaned over and hugged one of the Grunts. The Elite raised his plasma rifle and shot the priest in the head. A Grunt leaned on the wall and tried to fall asleep. The cruiser shook. The lights went out. Shockwaves blasted through the halls. A chunk of the cruiser on the side blasted off and exploded in a shower of blue. The gravity generator went offline, and the survivors started to float up into the air.
A Grunt looked around nervously.
"Is this heaven? Where are all the guns?" The Grunt felt someone punch him in the head.
"No, you idiot!" Came a Jackal's voice. Where still alive!" The Shot only destroyed half the cruiser and shut the power down. That thing must have used a lot of energy shooting those other ships down. I guess where the only survivors!"
"Why am I floating?" The Grunt seemed confused. An Elite's voice spoke up.
"Hopefully there is still power in the drop ships. If whoever's flying that huge ship is really smart, then that cannon was some kind of Ion weapon and everything the shockwaves came in contact with was shut down. Let's hope not!" The grunts all groaned.
"Alright everyone! Let's get to the hangar before those cannons reload and fire more shots! The Elite extended his legs to kick off the wall and move through the zero gravity to the hangar.
"Are we there yet?" asked one of the grunts.

Meanwhile on Colchis

The officer activated the control panel as soon as the transmission light flashed. Two holograms appeared above his COM station. One was of a beautiful woman, scantily clad in Egyptian clothes, probably an AI. The other was a sergeant in uniform, picking his nose. The sergeant pulled his hand away quickly as soon as the officer looked at him. He was wearing a nametag that said AEGEUS.
"Jason? Is that you?" The officer asked eagerly.
"It's sergeant Aegeus now!" Jason said proudly. "Got promoted for being 'resourceful'! Have my own little group of Pelicans!" The officer turned and looked at the AI with a sort of wonder. He found her amazingly beautiful. Could they really do that with an AI now, make the so realistic you found them beautiful? Jason suddenly dropped his proud posture and snapped his fingers.
"Private! Are you making eyes on my AI?"
"No, Jason", the officer grumbled.
"You will address me as sir!"
"Yes sir" the officer grumbled. Jason burst out laughing.
"Just kidding, old friend. You can call me what you please". Jason turned to the AI. "This is Cleopatra, my AI. She was a gift from Captain Antony". The officer turned to her and Cleopatra nodded in acknowledgement.
"Officer, this morning a group of biomechanical fighters departed from the Leviathan just after it decimated the covenant fleet, and we think they're heading toward you. We're putting your base on temporary lock-down so we can find out as much about this thing as possible, as this will be it's first attack on humans. The covenant made the mistake of worshiping it before they knew anything, and look were it got them!"
The officer nodded. "Of course I'll relay the order".
"The general who looses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand" Jason said in a wise tone of voice.
"Ah yes, ol' Sun Tzu!" The officer said, nodding. Jason's eyes got big.
"You've read The Art of War?"
"Read it! I live by it! I learned every reading from my previous commander, the one who owned a pet Nahn-Kahn! Just the other day I…"
Red lights flashed, and an alarm blared.
DANGER! UNIDENTIFIED AIRCRAFT APROACHING IN FORMATION! MAN TURRETS!
The officer smiled. "Our guests are here early. I'll go tell the coat check to stand by the door".





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