- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
This is a story of an Elite who changed the course of Covenant history forever. The Heretic.
Step of Silence, Ninth Age of Reclamation, aboard Covenant destroyer "Joyous Apostle" in orbit above Basis and the ruins of artifact "Halo".
Ship Master Muda 'Onnomee sighed and clasped his mandibles. He and his ship, the Joyous Apostle, had been scouring Halo for Covenant survivors under the order of the Prophet of Humility. They had made a makeshift camp on Basis, which was littered with wreckage and debris from the destruction of Halo. Muda bared his fangs in anger the humans had defiled the Holy Ring, killed his brethren and destroyed it, along with most of the Covenant fleet in this system.
He had been here for several cycles now, and was growing increasingly edgy and eager to return to the front lines of the conflict. He asked his second in command, a veteran Elite called Tola 'Kamkamee what this status of the scanning was. Although there were more than a trillion floating objects out there, the Forerunner scanners they had obtained eons ago worked very well. The scan would be complete in a few units. With a start, 'Onnomee read the scanning monitor in front of him, written in the elaborate Covenant calligraphy.
There was something out there. Something was moving
Rotation ETA-CONDITION, Extract from logbook of 343 Guilty Spark. Transmitted/volunteered. Among ruins of artifact "Halo".
Oh dear. Everything is in a terrible state. Installation 04 has been destroyed, and I am left with nothing but a few Sentinels, Enforcers and thought propulsion. There is no protocol for this sort of occurrence. I must resort to my own thinking…..
Rotation Error. Time/date anomaly, suspected 1 week discrepancy between last logbook entry and current entry.
Excellent. It appears help is on the way.
END TRANSMISSION.
Step of Silence, Ninth Age of Reclamation aboard Covenant destroyer "Joyous Apostle", in geo-synchronous orbit above Covenant camp on Basis.
The Joyous Apostle was like a shining silver whale as it orbited gently above Basis, the light reflecting off it coming straight from the gas giant Threshold. The scanning room had seen something. Something that moved. Seraph fighters were now on patrol to find the exact location of this anomaly, and identify it as Covenant survivor, human scum or otherwise.
An entire wing of six Seraphs, teardrop-shaped Covenant fighters tumbled together in perfect formation as they sped towards the vague location of the target. Since it moved, scanners could not track it as well as a stationary or slower object. They had given relatively small area for searching though, and the Seraphs, commanded by the Ship Master himself, dodged to avoid a kilometre long piece of metal, one of thousands in Halo's debris field.
At the controls of his fighter, Muda 'Onnomee eyed the both his scanner and the space ahead. His training had told him one thing. Be prepared for anything. Suddenly the scanner showed seven blips, directly ahead of his position. He had just clicked his radio on to tell his squad when one of them was struck down by an enormous metal machine. The rest of the Seraphs immediately tumbled aside and narrowly missed the volley of laser and rocket fire.
'Retreat to the Apostle' Muda barked in his guttural tongue. The Seraphs sped back to the Joyous Apostle, the engine cones blowing bright blue as they flew. Muda knew that if there were machines in Halos debris field, chances were something else would be here too. He had heard the briefing from the condemned one, Orna 'Fulsamee, who had failed to protect the Holy Ring from the humans. He knew what to expect around the ring. An Oracle...
Deployment + 00.20.23 Enforcer FY 597, in debris field, artifact “Halo”
The Enforcer known as FY 597 had been deployed from standby status for only 20 rotations when the robotic mind spotted a hostile contact, a ship identified from databanks as a “Seraph”. FY 597 took careful, computerized aim, and fired.
The unshielded, unaware Covenant ship burst into shattered pieces, venting atmosphere and plasma. The pilot, semi-conscious and almost dead, had pushed forward on his controls, and with the last ounce of life left in his eyes watched his Seraph dive towards the unsuspecting Enforcer…
That’s it for part 1. I’m sure you can guess what’s going to happen based on the events in the Heretic, but ideas are very welcome, and if you want to star as a Covenant character (either Elite, Grunt Hunter or Jackal) post your name here and I’ll try to put you in somewhere/
EDIT: Just went over the Flood again and I actually found out I can do Jackal names so anyone who wants to be any part of the "old" Covenant can post their names here.
Any help/comments/praise would be appreciated. Thanks.
[Edited on 12/18/2004 1:06:47 AM]