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Mr Sticky
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Joined on 06-11-2009
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Posts 138
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The Final War (Chapter 7 Part 2)
I am going to write my very own fan-fiction. Yay for me! On a side note, I used to write a good deal of ffs (not halo related) but I have stopped. This is my first time writing for a while, so don't come down to hard on me if it sucks. Constructive criticism would be nice. Prolouge: When the war with the covenant was over, we all thought that we were done with all our problems. No more things to come and threaten humanity. The covenant was gone. There were a few rouge brute ships left out there, but the elites swiftly began to clean them up. The elites went their separate way. They also had to rebuild after the devastation of the war. And the flood was gone, the ring had destroyed them. Humanity was finally left alone, no more threats to its existance. That's what I had thought. That's what we all thought. The human race was left devastated because of what the covenant had done. More than 75% of all humans were killed. All but a very small amount of colonies were destroyed. The UNSC military was ravaged. Most of the shipyards such as those on Reach were gone. Less ship production meant slow transportation to remaining colones, and it made it even harder for re-expansion. Everything mankind had worked for for year after year were no long existant. We survived though, and in the end, as long as we survive there is still hope. Mankind soon began to rebuild itself. Ships that had been refitted for colonization were sent out six months after the war was over. We turned the planets that had been entirely glassed into industrial colonies, and those that weren't were made into agricultural colonies. Over time, these colonies became large and fruitful. In three years, a good amount of the old colonies had been retaken. Once the UNSC military was restored, it began research on the forunner artifacts the the covenant had dug up. There was so much to be gained from these remains that most of the UNSC's resources were devoted to it. Every excavation site was a treasure trove of lost technologies that were soon buing implimented in many things. Every single forunner artifact sight was investigated, even out to the furthest colonies. I was a ship captain at the time. Captain Anthony. I was assigned to do research on harvest. The UNSC's research made perfect sence at the time. What was there to fear? They knew what was on the other side of the universe, and there was nothing wrong with it. The elites weren't going to give them any trouble, so what else would that they hadn't already taken care of? The human race was able to expand as far as it could with out anything else interfering. And that's what we tried to do. We all thought that we would be left alone from everything else in the universe.
We were wrong _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 1:
Captain Anthony woke up at 0500 sharp, just like he always does. Never in his life had he owned an alarm clock. He was just always awake when he needed to be. He got up, and put on his standard blue Navy uniform. Next he made his bed, and then he headed out to the command deck. Life after the war was dull for Anthony. He missed the thrill of the battles, and waking up to find a Covenant cruiser was preparing to fire on his ship. Even though he was glad it was over, the lifestyle of the war had become part of who he was, and now that it was gone he wasn't sure what he would do. He stopped in the mess hall on the way to the command deck. He grabbed a packet of the bland dehydrated standard issue meal that he had been accustomed to eating for the last few years. It lacked any real taste, but there was nothing else, so he ate it. As he was eating, he realized how similar this meal was to what his life had become. Being in the military during a period of war was both scary and exciting, but afterwards there wasn't any of the old glamour to it. At last he made his way up to the command deck. The room was filled with control panels and navigation computers, with the exception of the observation deck. Anthony walked over to his chair and sat down. When he turned on the monitor, a news article popped up on the screen, with the headline of: Insurrectionists kill five UNSC soldiers in a rally on Reach. There was a large Insurrection movement before the Covenant showed up, and now that the Covenant were taken care of, the movement flared up again. He skimmed through the article, but most of the information was repetitive from incidences from other days, so he closed it. "Ava," Anthony said in the direction of his shipboard A.I.'s holopad, "Status report." The light on the holopad flicked on and a slender figure with long blond hair appeared hovering over the pad. "All systems running normal, Captain," Ava replied, "Is there anything I can do for you Captain?" "Can you see how Professor Smith is doing on his research for me?" Anthony asked, "He said he was almost ready to begin excavating a new location about a week ago." "Aye aye sir," Ava said before the figure disappeared. Captain Anthony stood up from his chair and began to wander around the room. He was the only one there. Nobody bothered waking up early anymore. There was nothing to do except wait for the excavations to be finished. He walked up to the observation deck and looked out. All Harvest was was a research station. No colony had been built yet because of how far away it was. Sometime in the future there would be a thriving colony. Anthony could imagine it. One large city here, a bunch of scattered towns there, and acre after acre of farmland. New techniques where being used to plow areas that had been glassed and turn it into farmable land. He could see the ship's name Embarking upon Destiny written on the ship from where he stood. He had been aboard it for ten years, and captain of it for five of those years. It had gone through a lot of battles, but had somehow survived them all. In the last three years of the war, the ship had to be repaired twenty three times. The ship was almost a completely different ship than when it started off. So many parts had to be replaced, there were very few that came from the original ship. Captain Anthony's thoughts were interrupted when the door was opened. He swung his head around to find, Henry the weapons officer walking over to his station. "You're up early," Anthony said, "What's going on?" "Smith found a new toy for us to use," Henry replied, "He's been hooking it up to the Destiny all night long." "Smith's been doing what to my ship?" Captain Anthony asked. He was furious. Smith had no right to do anything with Anthony's ship, "Nobody ever asked me permission to do this." "Admiral Neher gave him permission to," Henry said, "Didn't he tell you?" Anthony didn't really like Admiral Neher. He always went ahead and did whatever he wanted without the consent of anyone else. "Well, what is Smith doing anyways?" Anthony asked, "What is this 'toy' of his" Henry began typing on a keyboard as he replied. Anthony never understood how he was able to type and talk at the same time, and found it sort of annoying when he did it. Henry always talked like he was just talking to an old pal of his instead of a superior. At first Anthony would demand that Henry speak with more formality, but soon gave up. "He found this cannon thing one of the ruins. He dismantled it and reassemble it up here. According to him it shoots out a plasma laser thing. He used a bunch of big words and stuff I can't remember, but you get the point. Admiral Neher wanted us to test it out in the asteroid field over by the system's edge." Anthony sighed. Nobody told him anything anymore. "Ava," he said, "Could you please wake up the crew?" "Aye aye Captain," Ava said before disappearing again. Today might be more interesting than Anthony expected.
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Chapter 2:
It took two hours for the Embarking upon Destiny to reach the edge of the asteroid field. They didn't go through slipspace, because of how inaccurate the system was, and Captain Anthony didn't want to risk jumping right into the field and getting crushed. The whole time they flew, Professor Smith and Henry were connecting the cannon to the Destiny's weapon system. Anthony was shocked when he was shown a picture of the ship Smith took with the cannon hooked in place. The cannon looked ridiculously out of place. Anthony would do anything to have it removed. His ship was now horribly lopsided and looked like it would fail to fly. As they neared the asteroid field, Professor Smith walked over to the observation deck where Captain Anthony was standing. "So what do you think about this new addition to your ship?" Smith asked, "I think it makes the Destiny look powerful." "I hate it," Anthony said very bluntly, "How long is this going to take so that I can take that giant hunk of metal off my ship." Smith wasn't fazed at all by Captain Anthony's obvious distaste to what was going on, "Probably around an hour. Maybe more, maybe less. I just can't wait to see what this thing can do. From my studies I've discovered that the forunner's technology was extremely energy efficient. It should take about one half of the time it takes to charge the MAC gun. It should be around twice as powerful." "Ava, pick an asteroid and tell me how long it will take us to get in range of it," Anthony said, "Once you got it, give the coordinates to Henry. Henry, start charging the cannon." "Aye, Captain," Ava said, "Thirty seconds till within approximated cannon range. I recommend taking a seat. This cannon looks like it can pack a punch." "So I hear," Captain Anthony said as he walked over to his chair, "Henry, you ready over there?" "Yes sir," Henry replied, "I've calibrated the shot and am ready to fire." "Ava, are we in range yet?" Anthony asked. "Just about," Ava said, "Ten seconds till we are within approximated shooting range... 7 seconds... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." "Now, Henry," Anthony commanded. One second after massive jolt went through the ship. A blue beam of plasma rocketed out in front of the ship and hit a rather large asteroid. The plasma beam punched a massive hole through the asteroid and kept going, hitting multiple asteroids as it went. Anthony was surprised at how much damage was done. As the first asteroid crumbled to pieces, it revealed a path of devastation. "Now that's what I call powerful!" Henry exclaimed, "That asteroid got demolished. If we had this when we were fighting the covenant, things would have been a hell of a lot easier." "Ava, find us a bigger one," Captain Anthony asked, "Navigate us over to it while the cannon charges." "Sir, I've found a larger asteroid," Ava responded, "It has a diameter of about five kilometers, ten times the size of the previous one. Using the last test, I have come up with a new firing range, and this asteroid is already within it." "Ava, how much more time till the cannon charges again?" Anthony asked. "One minute and thirty seconds till we can fire again, sir," Ava replied. "So, professor," Anthony said to Smith, "Like what you see?" "I'm surprised by the capabilities if that's what you mean," Smith replied, "My calculations showed that it should be only half as strong as its showing in this test. I'm also shocked to see how well it works after being sitting there, buried, for who knows how long." "I'm glad you’re happy with it," Anthony said, "If you want to keep it, it’s yours." "I don't think Admiral Neher would want to have it moved to another ship," Smith said. "Of course he wouldn't," Anthony said with a scowl. The day went on with continual tests of the plasma cannon. The cannon was able to tear through any object that was put in its path. Anthony, who was usually excited over things like this, was board out of his mind. Over time Anthony began to see things. Little things occasionally would fly in between two large asteroids and not continue on in the direction he thought it would. He knew he was just tired and was imagining things. Eventually Smith said that he had all the information he could get from tests, so Anthony ordered the ship be turned around and flown back into orbit around Harvest. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Anthony wasn't too thrilled when Admiral Neher came aboard the Embarking upon Destiny. Apparently he wanted to see what Smith had gotten out of the test. Admiral Neher saw potential in this project, and Anthony dreaded being a part of it. It wasn't necessarily that he didn't like his ship being outfitted with new technology; it was just that he had no control of what was happening. The entire time Admiral Neher was on the Destiny, Anthony never saw him once. He just came on and talked to Smith. They spent a good hour talking, and then Smith came onto the command deck. He had an excited look on his face and was obviously anxious to tell Anthony something. “Admiral Neher has assigned me lead of an assignment to develop the plasma cannon and add it to our ship design,” Smith said, “This is good news for both of us.” “How?” Anthony said, suddenly interested. “I get to take this thing off of your ship and take it back to Reach, where they are building a shipyard,” Smith said, “I get to produce copies of this which will be put on new ships.” “Well, when will you take it off?” Anthony asked. “I’ve already started work on it,” Smith said, “It’ll be in some cargo ship on its way to Reach by tomorrow. Out of your hands and into mine.” “Good luck to you professor,” Anthony said, ”Make sure that the copies don't look so d**n ugly.”
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Chapter 3:
When Captain Anthony came to the command deck the next morning, he found Admiral Neher waiting for him. Admiral Neher was sitting in Anthony's command chair, and turned around when he heard Anthony come through the door. Anthony hated how Neher was flaunted his superiority whenever he could. He saluted Admiral Neher, but Neher didn't bother returning it. "There has been a change in plans, Captain Anthony," Admiral Neher said. "What plans?" Anthony asked. "Well, we were going to transport the cannon to Reach via a cargo ships, but there won't be any coming near this area for over a month," Admiral Neher replied, "We can't order one to come here faster, because it is a two month slipspace jump to Reach. So I decided to simply leave the cannon where it is, and have you take it there. You won't be missing anything here, seeing as Smith is going to get off at Reach, and take his research team will be coming with him." "Do you think that the ship will be able to jump properly with the cannon attached?" Anthony asked. He knew that slipspace had strange properties, and didn't want to risk the Destiny getting damaged. "Unlikely," Admiral Neher replied, "Smith assured me that that would be least of our worries." "If that's the least of our worries, then what is the most?" Anthony asked, noticing how Neher looked nervous upon saying the word worries. "Smith said that there are many things about the cannon he still does not understand," Admiral Neher said looking away for a moment, "He said that the cannon was attached to a large underground system of... structures. He doesn't know exactly what they did. His hypothesis is that they had some way of controlling and focusing the beam. In addition to that, there was a dome right near the base that contained a large amount a coolant material. Smith fears that without this massive coolant tank, the gun might overheat. We know that the gun works, but the question is if it will be as efficient as it should be. It’s none of your worries though." "When do you want the ship to leave?" Anthony asked. "Tomorrow morning," Admiral Neher said, "Smith needs to 'pack up some things'." Neher stood out of the chair and walked toward the door, "Have a good day, Captain Anthony." "And you too, Admiral," Anthony replied. "Oh, Anthony," Admiral Neher said when he reached the door, "When we get to Reach, you will be taking another research team back here to study the fixtures that used to be connected to the cannon. Plan on staying here for a while, because Smith said that there was a whole lot of work to be done down there." With that he walked out of the room. _______________________________________________________________________________________________
That night, Anthony stood on the observation deck, looking out across the planet. Adam, the navigations officer walked up next to him. "Isn't it a little late to be up, Captain?" he asked, "You need to get some rest." "We got two months of cryo coming," Anthony replied with a grin, "I'm going to get all the rest I could ever want." "Ya, ya," Adam said, looking out at what Anthony was looking at, "What do you find so interesting?" "I'm just thinking," Anthony said, "There are only ten forunner excavations on the planet. I would have thought there would be more." "Why?" Adam asked, "Most planets have about seven." "The forunners used to live here," Anthony said, "I would imagine a planet where such a great civilization lived would be covered in buildings. But all we've found is a few structures. Do you think we're missing anything?" "I guess you’re right," Adam replied, "There is so much we've learned from the forunners, it’s a little hard to believe that we're missing most of it. Good night Captain." Captain Anthony stayed there ten minutes after Adam left, then went to bed.
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Chapter 4:
Reach was different from the last time Captain Anthony saw it. When he left from Reach to Harvest, people had only been living in the small patch that the Covenant hadn't glassed, but now there was some expansion out of that region. He stood on the edge of a street that went on into a scorched wasteland. Large machinery rolled over the blackened earth and broke it up into little bits. This new gravel was then sucked into another machine that cleaned off any toxins from the plasma scoring and returned it in place. This process was repeated until it was deamed clean by an enviromental expert. Over this ground streets would be laid, buildings would be built, and over every remaining space, grass and trees were planted to reduce the air polltion. When the planet was glassed, harsh chemicals were released into the air, making the air quality terrible. All citizens of Reach had to wear masks when outside for the health risk. Most people avoided walking outside altogether, and just went from their house, to their car, and to their work; almost completely avoiding the air. The UNSC had been running projects on Reach to try to bring down the pollution. They used cloud seeding to bring rain directly over the city at least once a week. During those times people were urged to remain inside because of the somewhat acidic rain. Unfortunately, many of the trees planted to improve air quality died because of it. Anthony spent his day planetside. The Embarking upon Destiny was having the cannon removed and getting some minor repairs done. There was nothing to do on his ship, so he decided to come down and look around. His day wasn't very eventful. He just walked around the streets, looking at the buildings being constructed and parks being built. After a while he went back to the ship and checked up on what had been going on in the two months he had been under cryo. Not much had happened that was unusual. UNSC destroyed Insurrectionist base, a new colony was created; the same basic stuff. He did notice an article on the discovery of a plasma cannon by a Professor Jordan Smith. Of course, the name Captain Anthony didn't appear at all in the article. Just alot of stuff about how Admiral Neher was starting new projects to help mankind and how great he was. As Anthony was reading, the door to the Bridge opened up and two men walked in. One of them was Admiral Neher, but the other one, Anthony did not know. "Captain Anthony," Neher said as Anthony stood up out of his chair, "This is Professor John Colmes. He will be going with you back to Harvest." "Pleasure to meet you, Captain," Colmes said as he walked up and shook Anthony's hand. "Admiral Neher," Captain Anthony said, "Has the cannon been removed yet?" "Yes," Neher said, "Your part in this is finished. You can begin your return to Harvest immediately." "Ava," Anthony said over his soldier, "Are all crew members aboard?" "Yes sir," Ava responed as the holopad lit up. "We'll leave as soon as you're off the ship Admiral," Anthony said. "Alright," Admiral said, "Make sure you contact me when you arrive. Smith is going to wanting information on the system he found connected to the cannon." With that, Admiral Neher turned and left. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Two months later, the Embarking upon Destiny exited slipspace into the Epsilon Indi system. The crew had been awoken two hours earlier and brought to the bridge, while everyone else on board went to their rooms. Captain Anthony sat in his chair, prepared to give orders to bring the ship into orbit. Ava gave a countown to when they would exit slipspace. There was a collective gasp as the ship entered normal space. When they left the system, there were two other ships with teams doing research. Now there were none. "Ava, get me a scan of the planet and the area around it," Captain Anthony said, stunned. "Yes sir," Ava said, "There are two large crash sites on the far side of the planet. Bio signs of the research teams have gone missing." Everyone went silent for a few moments. "What happened..." Adam said as he stared blankely out of the observation window. "Take us around the back to those crash sites," Anthony commanded, "Get Sergeant Anderson on a pelican with some of his men. I want to find out what happened there." "You want me to do what now?" a tall man with dark hair said as he walked through the door. "Sergeant Anderson, perfect timing," Captain Anthony said, "I want you to investigate the two crash sites." "What crash sites?" Sergeant Anderson asked, but then a large smoking object came into view on the planets surface, "What the hell? What happened?" "Its your job to find out Sergeant," Captain Anthony said, "Take some men with you. Set up a firebase if you have to. Good luck." ________________________________________________________________________________________________ It had been a while since any of Sergeant Anderson's men had gotten any action. When they were told they had something to do, they all got excited. Anderson only chose a small few, and those that weren't chosen where mad. None of them had any idea the severity of what was going on. Anderson took three pelicans full of men and some warthogs. He also ordered a firebase be constructed by the first crash site. Upon landing some of the men were stunned. The ship was huge, and seeing it on the ground was a little frightening. It was clear that the captain of the ship attempted to land it safely, because it was right side up and a large hill of dirt was piled up in front of it. While the marines looked around, Anderson instructed the pelicans to come back with more men, but he told one to stay. The men began to wander towards the crashed vessel. "Marines!" Anderson barked, "Get your as-es over here! I'm going to take ten guys up top to see if there is find anything there. Then the rest of you split up into two groups and walk around in opposite directions. When you meet up on the other side, head back to Alpha Base." he knodded his head over to the firebase that was being constructed over to his right. "I'll take this pelican here around to look. What we're looking for is any sign of what could have caused this to crash. If you find an holes, gashes, or anything else of that nature, tell me. You guys right there. You come with me on the pelican and I'll drop you off on top. Split up and look around up there. Lets go marines! We're burning daylight here!" The marines each went on their different directions. Anderson was about to jump into the pelican when a marine walked up behind him. "Sir, the firebase is ready, sir," he said. "Good, have some supply pads put up and have the Destiny send us some supplies. Make some hornets and worthogs and have them help." "Yes sir," the marine said before running off. Anderon got on the pelican and it took off. Because of the size of the ship, it took a while for the pelican to reach the top. Anderson had two get off at five different parts of the ship and then ordered the pelican to start to fly around. Because of how big the ship was, it took about thirty minutes before they found something. On the top there was a some hull missing. The gap continued in a line over the edge of the ship. Anderson had the pilot land close to the damaged section. It was clear that this wasn't what had caused the ship to go down; it was too small and not near any of the important parts of the ship. As he walked close to to area he had a terrifying discovery. The metal of the hull had clearly been melted away. The edge of the remaining hull had obvious signs that it had re-solidified while moving. Spikes of metal on all side poined toward the end of the ship. Anderson only knew of one thing that could possibly do something like that. Covenant plasma weapons. A voice came from his com system, "Sergeant, we found something over here. You should take a look. We lit a flare so you could see it." "I'll be right there," Anderson replied. He ran over to the pelican and told the pilot to take off and look for a flare. They found it easily, and flew over. The flare wasn't far from where they just were. As they approached, Anderson saw a large hole with two marines standing next to it. Anderson got off of the pelican and walked over the the hole. This one was a lot more significant than the other one, but showed the same signs as the last one, and came from the same angle. "Good work, but don't stop searching," Anderson said. As Anderson got back into the pelican he thought of something. He told the pilot to just to continue going up so that both of the damage spots were visible. As the pelican went up, Anderson looked around for more holes. He thought that if those two were from the same ange, there must have been a ship firing at it, so there would be more holes if he continued looking at the same side. Another hole appeared after a little while, and then another. At last he found the shot that must have been fatal for the ship. There was a hole right over where the ships power core was. The captain probably had to land the ship using the evasive maneuver rockets. Anderson called all men back to Alpha base, which was now up and running. The pelican landed next to four resently completed hornets. Anderson got out along with the ten men who had once been on the roof. "Ok, men," Anderson said, "I have a hypothesis on what took down this ship. At this moment, I thnk it would be best if only me and Captain Anthony knew about this. Right now, there may be men still alive insde that ship. I want us to get in there and search. We need to rescue any men that might be in there, and retreive the ships A.I. The only way in is through the holes in the ceiling, so take these hornets and the pelican. I'll be messaging Captain Anthony." Sergeant Anderson turned and walked towards the firebase while his men ran over to the hornets and pelican. He wondered what Anthony was going to do when he heard what he thought. It seemed so unlikely that it could be the covenant who attacked. Maybe there were some remaining brutes after all. A thought came to Anderson's head, and he quickly dismissed it. Even though he didn't like the idea, it kept coming back to his head. What if it was the elites? ______________________________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 5: "It can't be the Covenant," Captain Anthony muttered, "It just can't." "Well, its not like the elites would have done it," Adam said, "They have no reason to go at war with us. We're at an alliance with them, they wouldn't break it unless there was a good reason." "It just doesn't make sense," Anthony said, "The elites and the UNSC destroyed every brute ship that we could find. When they tried to regroup, we took them out. And then the elites torched the brute homeworld. They exposed the foolish scam of the prophets to the remaining Covenant and established their own union. There is no longer a Covenant. It is only the elites and us, and its sure as hell isn't us." "So you think its the elites then?" Henry asked. "I don't know what to think," Anthony replied, "None of this makes any sense." The com system crackled, and Sergeant Anderson's voice came out through a speaker, "Sir, do you want me to continue the search, or do you have all the information you need?" "We're not done down there yet, Sergeant," Anthony said, "If we can find any surviving crew members or retreive the shipboard A.I., we may have the answer to this." "I already marines looking around in both of the ships," Anderson said. "Good," Anthony said, "Once your done with that, check back in with me." "Yes sir." Anderson replied. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Private Alexander was the last one onto the Bridge of the crashed ship. The rest of the men in his squad were already spreading out and looking around. The room was similar to the one of the Embarking upon Destiny, even though Alexander had only been inside three times. It was one of the least damaged rooms of the ship that the squad had been through on their way there. The Bridge was like the drivers seat of a car; all of the force of crash was meant to be forced around it. Even the observation window was intact. Lance Cororal Erics, the leader of their squad, walked up to the command chair. He studied the computer system for a moment and then spotted the holopad. "Here it is," he said as he stopped near it. He tried pushing the few buttons on it, but none of them seemed to do anything. Then he found the little slot located underneath the computer where the shipboard A.I. was stored. It was empty. Erics was puzzled. Erics pulled out his com device and switched it on, "Sergeant Anderson, this is Lance Cororal Erics. My squad has reached the Bridge." Anderson's voice came back, "Good, what did you find?" "The shipboard A.I. is missing," Erics replied. "What?" Anderson asked, "Missing? What do you mean its missing?" "There is nothing where the A.I. supposed to be," Erics said, "No dead bodies lying around either. Do you think that the crew could have gotten out alive?" "Maybe," Anderson said, "Look around and see if there is anything else you can find. I'll relay this information back to Captain Anthony." "Yes sir," Erics said before he turned the com off. He then turned around to address his squad, "Alright men, we're going to search this room up and down and see if we can find anything interesting. You see anything out of the usual, tell me. Are we clear?" "Sir, yes sir!" the squad shouted. "Get to work," Erics said. Private Alexander began to wander around the room. He was excited that he was able to do something. For the last year he had been stuck inside the ship doing nothing but play cards all day long. Now he had something new to do. His eyes scanned the walls and computer systems that were manned by the crew members. There was nothing abnormal about anything. Then he reached one of the rooms corners. There was a latch on the wall there, and the outline of a door. Alexander suspected it was where the crew evac pods were kept. Evac pods. Upon thinking the two words he opened the door. All there was was a hole in the ground. The crew must have taken the shipboard A.I. and abandoned ship. "Sir!" Alexander shouted, "I found something over here!" "What is it?" Erics asked as he walked over. "The evac pods are gone," Alexander replied. Erics looked down the hole. "Good work," Erics said, "I'll radio Sergeant Anderson." _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Captain Anthony looked gloomily at Harvest through the observation window. There had been no definate answer to what had caused two crashes. He learned that the shipboard A.I. of the Triumph, the crash site nearest to the new alpha base had gone missing and no crew was found. In addition to that, the ship Treaty had had its Bridge hit directly by a lazer and was almost completly destroyed. No A.I.'s had been retreived, and there were no survivers from either crash. Ava had been scanning the planet repeatedly. At first, Anthony wanted to know if there where any researchers left alive, but he found out more than that. There had been a lot of planet activity. From her scans, Ava found that there where fifty six new areas had been excavated. around each of these areas, the glassed surface had been removed in a circle with a radius of a mile. This was an impossible task for four months. He had wanted to send a message to Admiral Neher, but he didn't want to before getting all the information he could. So he spent more and more time sitting and waiting for Sergeant Anderson's men to find something. Anthony began to wonder if they would ever be able to find out. He also feared that they might get attacked by whatever had destroyed the other two ships. As he was thinking, the holo pad lit up and Ava appeared. "I've completed another planetary scan, Captain," she said, "I've found something very interesting this time." "What is it?" Anthony asked, interested. "Its the crew of the Triumph," Ava replied, "I've detected their bio-signs and the evac pods. They appear to be... running from something." _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Private Alexander looked out of the side of the transport warthog in the direction they were driving. On the horizon he could see something, but it didn't seem to be getting any closer. There were five other worthogs driving with them. In total there were three transports and three with mounted turrets. Their job was to find the remaining crew of the Triumph and return them to Alpha base. Apparently the crew had ran over from the evac pods to a forunner structure. The squad was shocked when they found the evac pods. They were almost completely anialated, not by force of impact, but by something else. Most of them were melted into strange blobs or cut in half. There were two dead bodies lying inside pods, both burned and deformed. They had probably died by impact, but something else apparently felt like making sure they were dead. In addition to that, there were two other bodies that had holes burned into them that were lying on the ground. It appeared as if a fight had taken place there. Bullet casings littered the ground. There was blood splattered on one of the pods next to a dead body. But, stranger than everthing else, pieces of bent metal that didn't seem to belong to the pods lay scattered aorund the area. There where no dead brutes or grunts, but instead there where just shards of metal. And then everything made sense to Alexander. He had heard about what had happened on the Arch, and he knew about the events on the halos. He knew what had caused the two ships to crash, and by the looks on the faces of the other members of his squad, so did they. Everyone was silent as they made there way to the forunner structure. Nobody was sure what they would find there. The crew of the Triumph might already be dead; killed by whatever had attacked them at the evac pods. They were all nervous that they would die once they reached the location. Many wished that they would never have to get close to that place, for what could be waiting for them. For some, that wish was granted. The caravan of worthogs never noticed that they had been followed from the crash site. Eyes they could not see watched as they made their way closer and closer to the forunner structure. When they were just about five miles away, they were overtaken. Private Alexander was the first to see them coming. Everyone had been nervously watching their surroundings, but nobody had been looking up. Alexander tilted his head back and spotted the mass of things flying down towards the warthogs. They all seemed to follow behind one leader. It was the smallest of them all, just a little blue orb with a metal casing. He was too stunned to speak at first, but then he yelled at the top of his lungs one word. Sentinels
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Chapter 6: Chaos soon ignited in the caravan of warthogs. As soon as Private Alexander alerted everyone, the sentinels opened fire on the warthogs. The drivers tried to swerve out of the way of the lasers but some weren't fast enough. The turret hog to the right of Alexander burst into flames as five shots hit it simultaneously. The panic stricken marines in the back of the two transport hogs began to shoot upward wildly. Some of the sentinels began to get destroyed, but they had superior numbers and firepower. Alexander crouched low in the back of his hog and tried to find a target. One came up on the broadside of the hog, and Alexander turned and squeezed the trigger of his assault rifle. The sentinel was jolted back by the impact of the bullets. It turned toward Alexander in an attempt to shoot him, but its protective metal shielding was soon compromised and a few shots hit the delicate core. The inside exploded, sending scraps of metal flying. When Alexander looked back up to attack another sentinel, he was hit by a sudden force. Three sentinels had got on the other side of the warthog and shot at it. The force of the three lasers had been enough to flip the hog over. Alexander watched as the left side of the warthog flipped over his head. His seat was lifted out from underneath him, and he fell toward the ground. Out of reflex he tucked and rolled on impact, but it still hurt like hell. When he looked back up, the warthog he had been riding in crashed into another warthog. In a few moments he was surrounded by sentinels. He raised his gun to fire, but then something strange happened. His body was immersed in a yellow light, and he thought that he was dead. He felt suddenly weightless, and lost control of his body. After a few moments, he realized that he was floating a few feet off of the ground. His body was turned suddenly, and he saw the small sentinel from earlier. Out of its center came a yellow beam that came out and touched his chest. After a few seconds of floating helplessly, he tried to talk. "Wha... What's going on?" he stuttered, confused. To his surprise he was answered by a voice emanating from the small sentinel, "Your life is temporarily being spared so that you can be questioned." "Questioned?" Alexander asked, "Questioned about what?" "About the damage you have caused!" the sentinel said. "What damage?" Alexander asked. The sentinel for some reason became enraged. The blue orb in the center flashed red, as it said, "What damage!?! What DAMAGE!?! Have you not seen what has happened here? You have nearly destroyed the defense mechanisms! A massive hole has been opened in the defense grid! You have put your entire race at risk of infection! And you say that you don't know that there has been any damage!?!" Alexander was scared out of his mind, and was barely able to get any words out. "I don't know what you’re talking about," he said. As soon as he said it he regretted it. Seeing as how the sentinel had reacted to his last comment, he was afraid it might kill him. But instead, the sentinel simply said, "Let me show you then." His vision was blinded by a bright light, and a strange sensation filled his body. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Out of nowhere, Alpha base was attacked. Nobody saw it coming. The radar was clear for miles around and none of the temporary watchtowers that had been set up had seen anything coming. The sentinels just appeared in large numbers all around the border of the base and swarmed in. The alarms went off and everyone got into defensive positions. A line of marines and warthogs formed up that surrounded the base. The first sentinels to reach the line were quickly shot down. But the sentinels continued to come in seemingly endless wave. As soon as Sergeant Anderson was informed, he ordered anti air turrets be put up on the base corners and pulled out his com device. "Embarking upon Destiny," he said, "This is Sergeant Anderson calling from Alpha Base. Alpha Base is being attacked. We are under heavy fire and need backup." There were a few moments with no response, but then Captain Anthony's voice came through the speaker, "What are you being attacked by, Sergeant?" "Sentinels," Anderson replied. Captain Anthony cursed, and then said, "I'll try to send in all the backup I can. Hold in as long as you can Sergeant." "Thank you, sir," Anderson said before switching off the com device. He ran from where he was to the firebase control room. From there, all the firebase's resources and buildings were managed. He leaned over someone’s shoulder to view a monitor. The turrets where already 75% complete. He waited for them to complete and then spoke to the man at the computer, "Have the turrets target the larger ones. They are doing the most damage." "Yes sir," the man said as he selected targets for the turrets to shoot at. Anderson walked over to another station. "Have the vehicle depot make wolverines," Anderson commanded. "Yes sir," the man at the vehicle depot station said. Anderson then walked over to his station sat down. From here he could observe what was going on at the other stations, and view what was going on outside. He changed his camera view a few times and watched the battle that was happening outside. The sentinels were beginning to break their line. In only a little more time they would crush it. Not a moment too soon, four pelicans flew in front of the base. Each of them carried a wolverine and a squad of marines. The reinforcements went right into the fight. Just behind the pelicans, two vultures flew down. The sentinels started to get beaten back. In a few minutes they began to retreat. Anderson was about to tell Captain Anthony that they had pushed back the sentinels, when something appeared up on the top left of his screen. He adjusted the camera so that he could see it more clearly, and when he could make out what it was he cursed. Way out in the distance, he could see the shape of a forerunner ship.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 7: Part 1 When the light around Private Alexander dimmed, he found himself in a room. An eerie blue light from an unknown source filled the area. The room itself was made out a kind of metal and was engraved with strange symbols. Next to him was the orb sentinel from before. In the center of the room was a small platform with a strange looking device on it. Alexander was shaking with fear. Only a few moments ago he thought he was going to be killed by sentinels. Now he had no clue where he was or how he got there. Everything about the situation was so confusing. None of what was going on made sense to him anymore, and he had no clue if it ever would. The sentinel orb moved over the the strange device and Alexander followed automatically. The device was just a blue ball sitting half exposed in a metal container. On its surface were little hexagons that each contained a small symbol, similar to the ones on the wall. Immediately behind it was a shallow metal basin, which was at least twenty times the size of the device. As Alexander approached it, the ball began to glow slightly. On instinct, Alexander reached out his hand and touched it. All of a sudden, the basin lit up with a blue light. A three dimensional image appeared in the air above it. The image showed many points of light. Some of them were colored, and some of them were white. Alexander jumped back quickly. He didn’t know what had just happened, and he was afraid the sentinel orb might get mad at him. On the contrary though, the sentinel just floated up toward the three dimensional image, as if he intended for Alexander to cause it to happen. “This is all of the known Milky Way galaxy,” the orb said, “The planet that we are on is here.” The map adjusted itself so that a flashing blue planet became centered. “All of the planets that the humans control are yellow,” the sentinel orb said as the map zoomed out to show a collection of yellow planets. After a while he began to see that these where indeed human controlled planets. He identified Earth, Reach, Mars, and a collection of others. “Why isn’t Harvest marked yellow?” Alexander asked. “Because it isn’t human controlled,” the sentinel orb said. “If humans don’t control the planet, then who does?” Alexander asked. “I do,” the orb said, “You humans may have lived on it for a short while, but it has always been under my control.” “How is it that you control it if we are the ones living on it?” Alexander asked. “Let me show you,” the sentinel orb said as the map changed again. The blue flashing planet now became the only planet visible. The map of the planet showed many structures buried under the surface along with some that had been dug out. Alexander reasoned that they must be Forerunner structures. Some of the flashed red. After a while, Alexander noticed that all of the ones flashing red where the ones that had been excavated by the research teams. Alexander then spotted the Embarking upon Destiny lit up in yellow on the map. Just below it he saw an area with a yellow structure that he assumed was Alpha Base. In addition to that, he saw a strange looking blue mass coming in the direction of Embarking upon Destiny. “This is in detail the planet that you call Harvest,” the orb said, “These buried structures are all part of a defense array. They are put in place to defend against the flood. This planet is just one of many of its kind. Together they form an almost unstoppable defense from the flood. I found them only a few thousand years ago. It’s hard to believe my makers hadn’t found this. They would have been amazed if they could see it. It would have been very useful in their efforts of resistance. They might not have had to go to the desperate measures that they had gone to. “Anyways, you can clearly see the damage that you have caused,” the sentinel orb continued, “Each of these areas have had important components removed. The damage that has been done to the array is unspeakable! It will definitely not function properly in the case of flood attack.” “Well, what am I supposed to do about it?” Alexander asked when the sentinel orb paused. “You cannot be allowed to do anything more with the system,” the sentinel orb said, “The damage done already is too much to have anyone be me take care of the repairs. You will come with me to the control room in order to activate the grid.” “Activate it?” Alexander asked, “Why?” “I will show you when we arrive at the control room,” the orb said. “Ok,” Alexander said, “What am I supposed to call you?” “Oh!” the orb said, “Have I not introduced myself? How rude of me. I am Indignant Bias. I am assigned to monitor the reestablishment of your race.” “Ok,” Alexander said, “Before we go to this control room, I have one question. Why would the Forerunners not know about one of their own defensive arrays?” “You thing this is a Forerunner defensive array?” Indignant Bias said, “This isn’t of Forerunner design. This was created by the Precursors.”
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Chapter 7: Part 2 As soon as the Forerunner ship appeared on the horizon, panic filled the Bridge. "Ava," Captain Anthony said, staring out at the approaching vessel, "How did it get here without us detecting it?" "I can't see it on the radar, Captain," Ava replied, "It must be jamming our signal or something." "Great," Anthony said sarcastically, "I want all longsword fighters out there, now!" "Yes Captain," Ava said. "Henry," Anthony said to the weapons officer, "Charge the MAC. While its charging try to use the ships rockets to take out those sentinel things flying around it." "Yes Sir," Henry said, and then after pressing some buttons slightly frowned, "Sir, the targeting computer can't lock on to the sentinels. It’s probably the jammer their using." Anthony cursed and then said, "Ava, can you find where the jammer is?" "I'm not sure, but I think its right here," Ava said before the screen on his computer showed an image of the forerunner ship with a highlighted section in the middle. "Load this into the Longsword fighters' computers as their primary target," Captain Anthony said. "Sir, the jammer keeps me from contacting the ships," Ava said, "Our only hope is to hit it with a MAC blast." "And what if that fails?" Captain Anthony asked. "It is possible that we could load a pelican with explosives and ram it into the Forerunner ship," Ava said, "But it would probably be impossible for me to control it or ignite the explosives remotely. In a previous situation, an A.I. was able to create a copy of itself in order to infiltrate a Covenant ship. I might be..." Ava was suddenly cut off by Demitri, the communications officer. "Sir," he said, "Sorry to interrupt, but I have a signal coming from the Forerunner ship. They are trying to communicate with us. Should I let them through?" "Go ahead," Anthony said. Demitri pushed a few buttons and then a voice came through a speaker. "Attention human vessel," the voice said, "I am Indignant Bias. I ask that you stop charging your weapons and recall your ships. It is necessary that you bring all of your men off of the planet and stay out of our way. You are preventing the restoration of the planet's facilities." "What facilities?" Captain Anthony asked. "The defense grid," Indignant Bias said, "You have damaged many systems within it, and they must be restored. If you intend to stop us, we will be forced to destroy you." "What is this defense grid supposed to be defending against?" Anthony asked, now confused. "The flood," Indignant Bias said, "This planet is outfitted with weaponry that is efficient in eliminating the flood. If the planet is left in the state it is currently in, the flood will be able to overtake it. That is why I must begin restoration immediately." "Fine then, I'll take back my troops if you'll let me communicate with them," Anthony said. "The disruption field has been disabled so you can recall your troops," Indignant Bias said, "I am ending communications now." There was silence for a few moments. On a nearby radar screen, a bunch of points appeared where the sentinels where. "Ava, get those longswords back," Captain Anthony said, "Message Sergeant Anderson to bring back all of his men." "Sir," Henry said, "With all due respect, are you seriously going to let them push you off this planet?" "Of course not," Anthony said, "I just wanted to get them to lower that jammer. Demitri, send a message to Admiral Neher. Tell him what happened. I'm sure he won't be too keen on this whole situation."
When life gives me lemons, I make beef stew. Gt: Mr Sticky100 New FF: The Final War I would appreciate comments/critisism
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