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This topic has moved here: Subject: Halo 3 Epilogue Story (Introduction and Part One)
  • Subject: Halo 3 Epilogue Story (Introduction and Part One)
Subject: Halo 3 Epilogue Story (Introduction and Part One)

wow, i cant wait.

  • 04.09.2008 9:48 AM PDT
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10/10 even thoguh i didnt read it its probly good

  • 04.09.2008 9:49 AM PDT

Part Two

Like its namesake the Dawn began to flare like a rising star. The leading edge of the frigate was not designed to re-enter the atmosphere of a planet backwards, let alone in half. Large sections of metal began to tear from the main structure and damaged Archer missile pods were exploding with the buffeting and overwhelming heat.
John pushed the engines of the Pelican to beyond their operational maximum in an effort to keep up with the remains of the Dawn. But the situation seemed to conspire against him.
The planets’ gravity and the already excessive momentum gripping the Dawn meant that he was gradually falling behind without the ability to talk to his trusted guide. Despite years together, fighting against the best the Covenant could offer there was little he could do except follow the broken frigate. This was where John hated being. In a situation that was not subject to his physical strength, endurance or speed. He was more at home on the ground where he could move faster and hit harder than anyone else in the UNSC and most probably the majority of his former enemy; the Covenant. In the air though he was like a fish out of water and all of his survival instincts were relying on the mechanical movements of a dented drop ship. He preferred solid ground, a good rifle and a team that he could no longer call upon.
John was immediately tempted to think back to a time when SPARTANS were the last best hope for the survival of Humanity, but gradually their numbers had dwindled to just a handful of skilled individuals. Even now he was unsure of whether any of them were still alive. Deep down though he hoped they were.

The Pelican jerked suddenly, bringing John back to reality. The frigate had now pushed itself into a 12 kilometre lead, and even with his faceplate fully polarized and at maximum magnification there was little detail that he could make out. Captain Keys had been able to land the Pillar of Autumn on the first Halo, but then he had an entire ship to utilise not a collection of damaged and broken deck plates with half a MAC gun.
Suddenly the Dawn began to move slowly to the left and then the whole ship rolled over to expose the more intact dorsal section to the ferocious heat. Cortana was still in control.
John followed as best as he could behind the Dawn for the next twenty minutes, and managed to make up some ground as the large twisted frigate performed a series of S-turns in order to slow its descent. Then John heard a sound he did not expect.
“Chief…is Cortana…antenna …non functional…am using…ships sensor array plating…you hear me?” said a distant and distorted Cortana
John could only make out parts of the transmission but it was enough to reassure him of Cortana’s status.
“Barely Cortana, I’m just behind you. I’ll follow you in.” replied John
Nothing further came from frigate except a wash of static.
John continued to follow the burning ship as far as he could and then slowly pulled back on the control column to bring the nose of the Pelican level with the horizon, and watched as the ship sliced a fiery scar into the grass covered surface of the planet beneath. Even before the battered UNSC frigate come to a stop John was already landing.

Once down John punched the ramp release switch so hard that the control surface crumpled under his strength, but the welfare of the Pelican was the least of his concerns. He raced from the ramp and towards the Dawn with a speed that even Kelly would have been proud of, but he was greeted with a searing wave of heat that blistered and bubbled the remaining layer of his already scarred colour scheme. Pale green paint fell from his armour in thin scorched flakes upon the ground as he pushed his suit of Mjolnir armour beyond its limit.
The main hangar bay that had provided John with the means to escape was now a shattered mess and even the remaining Pelicans, although already damaged, were now an unrecognisable sight. John carried on running to the far end of the ship where the engines were located and climbed in through one of the few intact deck hatches. John continued to race throughout the remaining sections of the ship until he reached the area where he had left Cortana.
“Cortana, Cortana can you hear me!” shouted John
He stood next to the cracked holo plate that had served as Cortana’s command cell and waited for her to appear as though afraid to remove her chip, either through concern of more damage or through the fading hope that she was still functioning.
“Cortana.” Whispered John
John began to reach for the chip housing below the holo-plinth when it suddenly illuminated to reveal the familiar image of his companion.
“What took you so long?” asked Cortana
“Funny, real funny next time lets do something harder.” joked John
John placed the chip back in its portable housing in his armour, where it belonged and then collected a few supplies before heading back to the Pelican. It was good to have her back in his head.
“Chief there’s something I need to tell you,” Cortana paused before continuing “You were in stasis for quite a while.”
“How long?” asked John
“Longer than you think.” Replied Cortana



[Edited on 05.02.2008 6:09 AM PDT]

  • 04.09.2008 9:53 AM PDT
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omfg







































































































THAT WAS AWESOME

  • 04.09.2008 9:56 AM PDT

Part 3

John continued walking towards the Pelican expecting Cortana to say that he had been in stasis for 3 or 4 years, but her hesitation in coming forward with a definitive timescale only heightened his already overwhelming concern.
“Exactly how long have I been in stasis Cortana?” asked John
Cortana paused extensively before coming back with an answer.
“You’re not going to like it,” replied Cortana
“How long!” asked John with a raised tone
“314 years, 8 months and 3 days.” Said Cortana with a sympathetic tone
John immediately stopped walking and dropped the supplies on the ground, for the first time in his life as a Spartan he was shocked.
“I’m sorry John.” Said Cortana
John made a vain attempt to recover his composure but he knew why Cortana was so sympathetic. She had been his guide and confidant for years and knew him probably better than he knew himself. It no longer mattered if all of the Spartans had survived the war, which he knew was impossible, they would all be dead by now. Not even a Spartan can live that long.
“Damn.” He whispered
“Chief I know that this probably won’t make up for anything but you stopped Truth and saved Humanity from extinction, you‘ve achieved your mission.” Said Cortana
“I know, but I never expected to win this war on my own or without another Spartan in sight.” Replied John
It was more than just that, John had hoped to see at least one of them again but the three centuries that had passed ensured that would never happen, even Kelly was unable to outrun time.
John was indeed the last surviving Spartan, and his luck had held out where the others had succumbed to fate and destiny.
“We’d better get moving chief; we have a lot of ground to cover.” Said Cortana softly
John quietly nodded in agreement before picking up the discarded supplies and making his way to the waiting Pelican.

The exterior of the UNSC drop ship was covered in scrapes and scratches from the heated pursuit of the Dawn. The starboard wing was slightly damaged from a near encounter with a semi-molten Warthog, but besides this she was fine and was all that John and Cortana could utilise in their exploration of this mysterious world.
After making himself comfortable John inserted Cortana’s chip into the small Pelican holo-plinth besides the navigation console, she quickly appeared; bathing the cockpit in blue light from her illuminated female form.
“So where to?” asked John
“Take us up to two thousand metres chief and I’ll try and use what’s left of the on-board sensors to scan the terrain around us.” explained Cortana
John replied with the engine ignition sequence before taking them up into the marble-blue and white sky above.
As they ascended in the Pelican, the observable surface of the planet seemed to stretch outwards in all directions. Even with the new advantage in height there was little change in the terrain.
The rolling blanket of dense-green woodland seemed to grow in size as they reached the 2,000 metre mark.
The interior of the cockpit seemed to flare as shafts of bright sunlight reflected on the control console and cascaded onto the fields and forests below. In another setting John would have enjoyed the scenery before him; it was similar in appearance to the green expanse of Reach. Except here everything was flat and without anything that resembled a hill or a mountain. It was a stark contrast in that respect to the varied terrain of his former Spartan home. Reach was filled with every conceivable environment type; snow capped mountain ranges, rolling green woodland and arid-deserts. It was the ideal place to train a Spartan unlike this new world where nothing seemed to be out of place.
The one thing that did seem odd in this sea of green was a small section of what appeared to be desert like terrain far off to the West.
Cortana spent several seconds analysing the sensor data before reporting back to John.
“There are basic life form readings in and around the vegetation and the only area of interest is 87 miles to the West. There is a small desert and some kind of object but I’m experiencing a great deal of difficulty in trying to get a more precise reading of it from the sensors.” Reported Cortana
“Any power readings?” asked John
“No nothing at all, in fact there’s a distinct lack of even background radiation from the object. We should approach with caution.” Replied Cortana
John agreed and dropped the Pelican down towards the tree-tops to avoid presenting an obvious radar-silhouette to any potential inhabitant.
For all John knew the structure could be a distant Covenant loyalist outpost, housing an untold number of brutes, Grunts and Jackals. All supported by squadrons of Banshees. Three hundred years of knowing defeat would mean any former adversary would be unwelcome, especially a demon.
Despite having the Pelican to use, John dropped the speed down to half in an effort to conserve fuel. He had no idea how long he would be here or what he and Cortana would encounter on the planet. The last thing he wanted to do was reduce their traveling speed to a lengthy sprint on foot.

The distant object filled with eye-catching detail as they approached, even though they were still over thirty miles out the unusual building began to fill most of the horizon. Its size was breath taking.
Cortana gazed at the sight before them and a series of symbols flashed across her glowing exterior. There was obviously something of interest that John had not seen.
“What is it?” enquired John “Or need I ask?”
“The design is of Forerunner origin but it’s somehow different.” Answered Cortana
“Different, how?” asked John
“All of the other structures and ships that we encountered before were all made with a similar design theme, and they all utilised the same materials and energy output even when dormant. But this design deviates from everything else that I’ve seen before.” explained Cortana
“In what way?” asked John with a raised tone
“I can’t detect it. The sensors on the Pelican could pick up a large indentation in the desert floor and I could see it from the crash-site, but there’s no structure according to the sensor log.” She replied
“You mean it’s a hologram?” suggested John
“No I think it’s some kind of camouflage technology. We can see it visually but besides that it’s undetectable.” Said Cortana “But it’s not just the structure, there are various areas of this planet that are phasing in and out of the sensor scans. I think the whole planet has some kind of stealth field around it, but obviously over the years since the Forerunners were here the power in some areas has started to degrade.”
John nodded and continued their approach in the Pelican; he was tempted to fire the forward chain gun at the structure just to see if the armour-piercing rounds would interact with a solid object and not a hologram, but he knew better than that.
For once in his experience with Forerunner technology John wanted to know where he stood, but that was never the case.

The unusual Forerunner structure in front of him was indeed different to the rest that he had seen. The metal almost seemed to harbor feelings of hostility towards him. Instead of the usual clean silver lines and highlights of blue light on every conduit and bulkhead there was a deep, dark metal almost black in colour covering the entire structure. But despite its darkness the building, if that is what it was, still managed to shine and glimmer like glass. Covering the dark skin were thin lines of bright red and orange, John felt as though was looking at some deadly creature that was covered in bright scales designed to ward off potential predators.
The main bulk of the structure consisted of several large towers that stretched upwards into the sky, their thick capital-ship sized bases ascended vertically until they came to a fine sharp point that was coated in several red slashes. The tall spires were accompanied by several smaller spires and a large dark building shaped like a pyramid sliced vertically in half. Unlike previous Forerunner technology there was no observable place to set down. It almost seemed like the structure was designed to prevent a nearby landing in combination with the lack of obvious doorways.
“I could shoot my way in,” suggested John “for a change.”
“I think that in this case chief, firing any form of weaponry would bring us down a lot quicker than we would wish,” Replied Cortana “I think I know what this planet is.”
“Go on.” Stated John
“Everything else that we have seen, the halo structures, Flood containment units and the Ark they were all part of a large system designed to defeat the Flood. Whereas this seems to be a world designed to keep those that controlled the Halo’s safe from its effects and from any uninvited guest; such as a Flood infested ship.” Explained Cortana
“You mean a shield.” Replied John
“A shield world to be more precise, this is where a whole population could reside in safety free from the effects of the Halo’s.” said Cortana
“I remember you mentioning this before.” Replied John
“This is different chief. These structures aren’t here for decoration, or to power the stealth shield, they’re weapons designed for destroying one enemy in particular; the Flood.
“Then let’s find a place to set down and have a look.” Announced John

To be continued…



[Edited on 05.02.2008 3:28 AM PDT]

  • 04.09.2008 10:10 AM PDT

28, Architect ll Deviantart ll TWP(Formerly Halo 3 in the WorkPLace) - Assistant Director ll SIP ll OTK ll DMH

Very nice and well written

*Saves Thread*

[Edited on 04.09.2008 10:13 AM PDT]

  • 04.09.2008 10:12 AM PDT

I'm glad that you feel it is good enough to save.

  • 04.09.2008 10:17 AM PDT

Posted by: Max2107
Very nice and well written

*Saves Thread*

  • 04.09.2008 10:22 AM PDT

Keep em coming folks!

  • 04.09.2008 10:36 AM PDT
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Pretty good, but one question. Why did cortana say she still "had" the dawn. The front half, which i assume had the control room, went through the portal to earth.

  • 04.09.2008 10:39 AM PDT
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excellent writing. cant wait for the next part

  • 04.09.2008 10:41 AM PDT

Most large scale sci-fi ships have some kind of auxiliary control room or facility, such as the engine room. Don’t forget this is Cortana that we’re talking about.

  • 04.09.2008 10:45 AM PDT
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Posted by: MaxRealflugel
Most large scale sci-fi ships have some kind of auxiliary control room or facility, such as the engine room. Don’t forget this is Cortana that we’re talking about.


Thats what I was thinking. She is cortana, and it probably does have Aux. control. Great Story, keep it coming.

  • 04.09.2008 10:47 AM PDT

Thanks!

I'm not trying to keep this in the limelight, honest.

  • 04.09.2008 10:57 AM PDT
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Did you make this up? If so, you may have just killed Bungies next project.

  • 04.09.2008 10:58 AM PDT

I think it'll take more than my fictional stories to stop Bungie from world domination.

  • 04.09.2008 11:02 AM PDT
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Very nicely done, and as for the controls Cortana doesn't need them she has no need for physical control panels, every bit of data flows through her asif she were the ship.

  • 04.09.2008 11:04 AM PDT

True but she does need some kind of interface, such as the holo-pad/memory chip housing etc...

  • 04.09.2008 11:09 AM PDT

Quick as a razor, sharp as a bullet.

Excellent stuff, and thread saved. I have my own recently formed theory based on the symbol one can make out of the lights on the planet's surface, but I'm sure your idea will be excellent, judging by the standards of your writing. When can we look forward to the next part?

  • 04.09.2008 11:12 AM PDT

There are two things on this forum that piss me off;
Idiots and group invites.
What's even worse, is that I can never seem to get away from either of them ¬_¬
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I would have been your daddy, but the dog beat me over the fence."

Hmm... Nicely done, I can see you probally did well/ will do well in any creative writing you did/are going to do in school. I was thinking about doing something like this as well. Prehaps I still will. It just depends on when I'm in the mood. and when I don't have a stinking cold :(

However, as a decent writer myself, I wish to draw attention to a couple of problems you might not have noticed:

Doors: At one point, Cortana says she cannot open the small set of doors MC is trying to get through. However, once MC has the Pelican, she is some how able to open a set of much larger doors. This doesn't really make sense and its difficult at best to describe how it would be possible. A simple solution would be to simply have the hanger bay doors already open, prehaps before the ship went through the portal, or prehaps (Morelikley) they were ripped apart by pieces of debrie, not exactly opening them, but making a hole big enough for the MC to get out of there.

“This is how much time you have chief before the Dawn becomes too unstable for you to leave, so I suggest that you hurry.” Shouted Cortana


This sentence just sounds a little... childish to me, badly put together. Try putting some more technical words and some grammer into it prehaps.

Well, those are the only two problems that really stood out for me, so well done. I hope the rest pf the story is as good as his piece! Keep it up!

BTW, remember to go to www.fanfiction.com. Seriously, finished or unfinished, they will eat this story up!

  • 04.09.2008 11:21 AM PDT

Thanks, as for the door thing despite Cortana's overwhelming power to compute and operate a million different things a second, the Dawn is in seriously bad shape. She can only risk using any more power once the ship is in a semi-steady entry and when the chief has himself strapped into a Pelican.

Remember that Cortana can appear quite concerned when it comes to John and she can appear quite Human as well. She's just reacting to the situation around her and to the Chief's durability, he's lucky not invincible.

  • 04.09.2008 11:28 AM PDT

What sort of stories do you write?

  • 04.09.2008 1:33 PM PDT

We're all going to hell we may as well (GO OUT IN STYLE)! /// Diamond's Aren't Forever -- Bring Me The Horizon.

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

  • 04.09.2008 2:24 PM PDT

I am THUGa, and the last one on Bungie.Net.

"Go and tell the world my story..."~ The Count of Tuscany

cool... ^ w8, i know you!

[Edited on 04.09.2008 2:25 PM PDT]

  • 04.09.2008 2:25 PM PDT

Thanks again.

  • 04.10.2008 3:02 AM PDT