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  • Subject: Halo Fanfic: The End of a War
Subject: Halo Fanfic: The End of a War
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What are you talking about? I felt like I was reading Nylund during the space battles... down to the 'number number number point number number.' Gotta love that.

  • 05.11.2005 11:59 PM PDT
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Excellent chapter.

I never considered the thought that the flood might come to earth. That is probably the worst possible thing that could happen.

Possibly an idea that might feature in Halo 3 (If they make it, & I'm sure they will)?

  • 05.12.2005 1:48 AM PDT

I shall cut into 343 Industries Headquarters, retrieve the Halo Bible and burn any 343 Industries employee that stands in my way.

Grand Hierarch of the Covenant Elite Community!

This is a very, very good chapter. The Flood on Earth!!! We could have seen it coming, but it still comes as a surprise. I can't wait for the next chapter.

  • 05.12.2005 2:25 AM PDT

I shall cut into 343 Industries Headquarters, retrieve the Halo Bible and burn any 343 Industries employee that stands in my way.

Grand Hierarch of the Covenant Elite Community!

Posted by: UnknownsoldierGT
can flood swim? if so they can go all over the earth
They don't need to swim to get all over Earth. They can fly Pelicans, so they can use them to get to other continents.

  • 05.12.2005 2:26 AM PDT
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as I was lying on my bed at the night gazing the stars wondering one thing; Where the hell my roof went.

I am a Zombie.
Proud member of B.net since -04

Mr_C. this new chapter was amazing.

Arbiter, damn that Son of a B****, you scared me. i almost saw how bruteship destroyed Honour without Mercy with last plasmatorpedos.

And the Flood, how could you. no! our home. thank god i'm already dead in 2552.
or am i?


Lets hope that sgt.johnson have enough power to annihilate flood.


  • 05.12.2005 5:01 AM PDT
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HOLY -blam!-!!!
this... is ....KICKASS
i love this story,
cliffhangers rock!!!
i apologize for being inarticulate, but this is just so AWESOME(too many caps.)

  • 05.12.2005 6:01 AM PDT
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WOW, this was an amazing chapter. Very intense.. I love it. Give me more!

  • 05.12.2005 7:16 AM PDT
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Man i cant even express how good this chapter is keep up the great work.

Cant wait till chapter 18

  • 05.12.2005 7:59 AM PDT

i bet that either the spartans(not ackersons ones, the ones from reach) will recover and take on the flood, OR Miranda Keyes will kick some flood ass women style.

[Edited on 5/12/2005]

  • 05.12.2005 8:18 AM PDT

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I sit in shock... while it was obvious that the flood ARE going to come to Earth, the mannar in which you built the suspense was awesome. I only had a problem with Ackerson getting punched... the bastard deserved it, but the General didn't show the anger until he struck out at him. Just saying that I couldn't see his anger until he was punched...

Stupid man and his stupid ambitions, Ackerson's tie in for your story was simply beautifully well crafted. He sounds like a 5 year old: "What about my spartans?You didn't kill her spartans, but you wanna kill mine! *whine whine whine* Ackerson pi$$es me off, I hate him sooo much... and that tells you how well you've intergrated him into your story.

Wonderful writing... simply wonderful! Eager with excitment for the next installment.

  • 05.12.2005 8:36 AM PDT
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just a irrelevant question - how do you put lazy links in your sig? is it just the same way as you would for a normal post?

  • 05.12.2005 9:35 AM PDT
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Wow I didn't see the flood coming to earth. Also it was nice when Ackerson was finally put into his place. This is getting tense, I wonder what Dr. Halsey and Kelly will do in this story yet. Anyway Great Work Mr. Clark, and come out with the next chapter soon the suspense is killing me.

  • 05.12.2005 9:44 AM PDT
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Well that rocked. I personally find space battles more exciting than normal battle in the books and I can safely say that was a treat. You have captured the essence of a commander perfectly in the Arbiter. I especially liked the 'rear thrusters' manouvere. Genius. The Flood coming to earth? Well I think we all really expected it just not now. They are screwed anyway (Johnson + 3 Spartans = -BLAM-) Strauss and Hood are cool. Some smart leaders not just power hungry ones (Ackerson). I look forwrd to seeing how you will blend Dr Halsey and Kelly into the Flood on earth bit (or even if she turns up with the chief). Roll on 18.....

  • 05.12.2005 10:17 AM PDT
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The Forerunners be Praised, we have god writing us a story!
Darth Vader might say Impressive, most impressive, you are the best Halo Fanfic writer out here.

  • 05.12.2005 1:04 PM PDT
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I realize the scene where General Strauss strikes Ackerson might seem more, shall I say "fanservice-like", but there was more to it than that.

If you recall pgs. 98-106 of 'First Strike', where Lieutenant Wagner returns to Earth, and speaks with General Strauss, Colonel Ackerson, and Admiral Hood about the glassing of Reach, than the scene gains more credibility.

Throughout the entire scene in the books, there is a fair amount of tension between General Strauss and Colonel Ackerson. Admiral Hood is more in the backround, but I figure he's not too crazy about Ackerson either. You'll recall that Colonel Ackerson does seem to carry some form of authority, as he shuts General Strauss off mid-sentence with nothing but a glare. I'd imagine the Colonel is quite high-ranking within ONI and Section III, despite the fact of his military assimilated grade of a mere full bird Colonel.

While I'm not saying General Strauss's physical response to Ackerson's cowardice and idiotic actions was more a enacting of a personal vendetta, Strauss obviously felt he was justified in striking him. Whereas the General's anger may not have been present previously, obviously the situation before him must have caused him some duress. By all rights the only reason they know of how the Flood found Earth was because of him sending the Frigate with some of his S-III's to the ruins of Delta Halo. Granted the Flood already learned of Earth's location when Gravemind was inside of Honor Without Mercy, which the Arbiter informed the Master Chief of.

Also, I realize there was some question over Admiral Hood responding "Aye aye sir" to General Strauss's order to eliminate Ackerson's frigate.

Terrence Hood holds the Naval rank of Fleet Admiral, which nowadays means he is the highest ranking officer in the entire navy. Certainly this more than likely wouldn't be very different in the time when Halo takes place.

As for General Strauss, since the books never specifically identify exactly which facet of the military he's involved with, I'm imagining it to be Commandant of the Marines, whose role nowadays is typically filled with a two-star General. The Marines are one of America's most useful military facets these days, just below the Air Force and Special Forces. We've seen however, that in the Halo universe, the Marines play THE most vital role of mankind's armed forces.

While it is considered common these days for people to assume that the Marines are just another compartment of the Navy, they are indeed their own separate military organization. They have their own Air Force, and while they may often need to hitch a ride with the Navy sometimes, the Navy has oftentimes in the past shown its reluctance to be associated with the Marines (Guadalcanal 1942 anyone?).

As such, the Marines I believe in the Halo universe, have become integrated with the Navy, so much so that the two are near indistinguishable. This explains why Admiral Hood replied to General Strauss's order with an "Aye aye sir" a term typically used mainly in the Marines.

The Commandant of the Marines, and Fleet Admiral of the Navy are more than likely equal positions. General Strauss I'd imagine is a 4-star General, which is the highest ranking a soldier in the army can receive (unless we're talking about General MacArthur). I'm assuming this because when he is first introduced, it is typical in novels to state the full rank before simply dropping the title down to the normally accepted rank. Since I didn't see a Brigadier, Lieutenant, or Major-General title appended to Strauss's name, I assumed his 4-star rank, and gave him the title that comes with it.

Since General Strauss and Admiral Hood are on equal footing, it still may not seem likely that the Admiral would respond with an "Aye aye sir" to a direct order. Because of this we should do a little breakdown of the situation.

Repairs are being done on the MAC guns and the Orbital Defence Grid continuously, and I doubt the Admiral is getting much sleep, as he oversee's the repairs. They have to be on a near-constant alert because no one knows exactly when the Covenant are going to return, with a much larger force than before.

With all of this on his plate, Admiral Hood has got to be pretty stressed, and now add to that the arrival of an unidentified frigate, and when he goes to ask for advice, everyone keeps mentioning that there's Flood aboard. Admiral Hood more than likely wasn't able to get a full debriefing about the whole situation on Alpha Halo before, but he definately learned about what occurred on Delta Halo. He knows what the Flood are, and what they are capable of. A frigate loaded to the gills with the little bastards is enough to set anyone's mind off on a wild tangent of different scenarios.

As a soldier for the majority of his life, Admiral Hood has more than likely been subordinate to many different people, and has had his fair share of encounters with higher ranking officers. So he knows when you get an order from an officer, you respond with a 'yes sir' or in regards to the Marines, an 'aye aye sir'.

Lifetime soldiers are notorious for always needing to know exactly who's in charge of a situation, and Admiral Hood is no different. He's in control of the Navy, but he went to General Struass and the other members of ONI and Section III for advice on what exactly he should do in that situation. Left on his own he more than likely would have simply sent out a squadron of Longsword fighters to dispatch the frigate anyways.

When he first contacted General Strauss, he would have assumed that both the General and Colonel Ackerson were in charge there. With Ackerson's own admittal that he is responsible for the chance that the Flood are on board the Frigate, he is lowered down a peg in Admiral Hood's eyes. When Strauss struck Ackerson and ordered his arrest, that put the nail in the coffin; Ackerson was discredited and Strauss became the sole officer in charge.

General Strauss issued a direct order to Admiral Hood, and because of the direness of the situation, he responded with the Pavlovian response all soldiers/sailors/marines pertain to. Admiral Hood was given an order from the officer in charge, and as such he replied with an "Aye aye sir."

....there, I think that about covers the problems anyones had so far with the chapter.

If you were ever wondering why it takes me so long sometimes to create chapters, than this is why. I have to consider every damn sentence with as much disgusting forethought as I just wrote out up there.

Edit

Also, for those sticking around, later tonight I will more than likely post another long list of questions and musings about this story, so check back later and you should hear from me again.

[Edited on 5/12/2005]

  • 05.12.2005 1:15 PM PDT
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Posted by: Mr_Clark
This could indeed have interesting developments, but I won't be having too many scenes with Flood-infected dogs killing their owners or something.


hmmm. I wonder if this is a hint of what to come. Good story. I commend you.

  • 05.12.2005 1:37 PM PDT
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I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.

WOW, just awesome. I knew it was coming, I knew it, but I was still suprised. If just one human gets infected than Earth is screwed. If more than one gets out than Earth doesn't have a chance. Earth will be taken over in a matter of days by the flood. Hopefully that wont happen. Awesome chapter. Thanks for the PM Mr. Clark.

7 days, 7days left until

STAR WARS EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH, YA.

  • 05.12.2005 2:05 PM PDT
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Great chapter. You did a great job with making Elites feeling like tactical giants, in which they are. And the Flood...ah the flood....I predict that Gravemind will re-manifest itself itself somewhere on Earth, and in great cimematic fashion, I also predict that Sgt. Johnson will sacrifice himself by setting of a thermonuclear rection in proximity to Gravemind.

  • 05.12.2005 2:47 PM PDT
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amazing chapter Mr.C

  • 05.12.2005 2:53 PM PDT
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Wow! Simply wow! I just love your near 2-page response to a one sentence problem. You really like proving yourself right, don't you? Or in this case, clarifying your point I should say.

Anyways, I commend you on knowing General MacArthur was a 5-star general, not many people know that.

A person of your intellect should not be posting fanfics on measly forums; you should be out writing novels and getting paid big bucks. Not to say I don't like your work, I love it in fact, but I just think you're wasting your talent.

You seriously need to get in touch with Bungie about writing a fourth novel. Your gift in writing Halo-based fiction is undeniable.

Bravo! =)

P.S. Just to clarify things, yes, a four-star general is the highest rank any general could recieve, but there is a loophole to that. During a war, the general in charge of the whole army would recieve 5 stars, and would be referred to as General of the Army. Also, the person in charge of the whole Navy would also be given 5 stars and be referred to as Fleet Admiral (like Hood). As you can probably guess, there is a 5 star ranking for the General of the Air Force too, but remember, all of these rankings can only be issued during wartime.

  • 05.12.2005 6:07 PM PDT
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awesome chapter.

  • 05.12.2005 9:24 PM PDT
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There is still one thing that hasnt been answered.

The sound of the far doors activating and sliding open caught Karktanus’ attention. His eyes focused on the darkened area, lit only by the fires that filled the corridors. He saw them then, and ice filled his veins, and his finger slammed down on the trigger of his plasma rifle.

The Parasite are here!

Infectious forms began pouring through the access ways, hundreds of them spilled forth, heading straight for Karktanus. The Jiralhanae fired his rifle continuously, his shots ripping through the masses of parasites. His panicked state refused him the necessary awareness to tell when the weapon was close to overheating, and as such when plasma spilled forth from the weapon, the only warning he had was the pain the action extracted upon him.

The plasma rifle fell from his hand, clattering to the deck floor.

I will not die here!

Karktanus let his survival instincts take reign, his consciousness mind slipping away as his posture changed to that of an animal. He began rampaging through the parasite, the small infectious forms ripped apart underneath his relentless assault.

The Jiralhanae’s rampage was cut short however, when several long tentacles slipped unnoticed into the bridge of the ship. Lashing out savagely they slammed Karktanus to the deck and pinned him. Snarls of rage spilled forth from him, tearing at the tentacles with all his strength but gaining no purchase.

“Know that the rest of your ferine race shall join you in death soon, beast.”

The sickening voice filled the room, as the tentacles pinning Karktanus to the deck tightened, until the audible sound of his bones snapping came. As the infectious forms swarmed the fallen Jiralhanae, silence descended throughout the ship


What ever happened to that Ship and what was the "thing" that attacked it, this happened in Chapter 11 and im still very curious about it :D

  • 05.12.2005 9:50 PM PDT
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dang dude out of all thing finding earth it has to be the flood

  • 05.12.2005 10:04 PM PDT
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Another superb chapter. My heart was literally racing towards the end of that chapter. Wow, just wow!!

  • 05.13.2005 4:33 AM PDT