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  • Subject: Halo 3 Epilogue Story (Introduction and Part One)

Where's my -blam!- cheeseburger!?

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Mythic Conquerer #12

Great read as per usual. Keep em coming!

  • 06.09.2008 6:59 PM PDT

I'm half way through part 6.

  • 06.10.2008 2:19 AM PDT
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This...is...brilliant...

  • 06.10.2008 2:27 AM PDT
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Amazing and well written! quick question, how is cortana still there? an AI only lives for 7 years...?

  • 06.10.2008 2:31 AM PDT

There is an edited version of one of the parts, I'm not sure which page it is on but it covers this life span question.

  • 06.10.2008 1:24 PM PDT

Without me, it's just "Aweso".

Posted by: Lemmiwinks
Amazing and well written! quick question, how is cortana still there? an AI only lives for 7 years...?


Maybe Cortana created a clone of herself every 7 years, or all that information she gained from Alpha Halo allowed her to live so long, or she was put in a sort of stasis for the whole time.

  • 06.10.2008 8:06 PM PDT

Please read the edit for that answer, and also read one or two of the posts above you as well.

  • 06.11.2008 1:34 AM PDT

The edit concerning Cortana's life span is on page 6 (Part 3).

[Edited on 06.11.2008 1:41 AM PDT]

  • 06.11.2008 1:41 AM PDT

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SIX

  • 06.12.2008 10:16 AM PDT

Part 6

May 18th 2866 (Location Unknown)

John stood silent for several minutes, staring at the ancient figure before him. Cortana was the first to overcome her own amazement and asked the chief to move forward towards one of the many panels that were located around the chamber.
Once they were close enough, Cortana moved from the relative safety of John’s armour and into the Forerunner computer. From here she was able to fully appreciate the technology involved.
Unlike her previous attempts to circumvent the running software, she was now able to access almost every area of the computer. The only area that eluded her curious grasp was the impressive weapon system that both Reach and Earth could have used in their defence. Instead Reach had fallen and had taken many Human and Covenant lives in the process, and Earth had been saved after good fortune had broken the Covenant in two providing the UNSC with a valuable ally.
But that was why Cortana chose John as her operations platform, because of his good fortune.
Cortana suddenly appeared on the computer console as a hologram.
“Chief don’t go anywhere, I’m going to have a look at the data stored in the Forerunner system,” said Cortana
“And here was me, planning a vacation.” Replied John with a sarcastic tone
Cortana tilted her illuminated head and stared at John with a small smile on her face. “Funny chief, very funny,”

John carefully walked around the chamber, avoiding the many cables that lead to the Forerunner sat in the throne like chair. He was unsure if the figure was encased within some form of stasis field or if the cables were ferrying a level of energy that would fry his Mjonir armour.
It seemed odd to John that this ancient being was so exposed. There was no sign of a monitor, and none of the sentinels were active. The events on the previous Halo’s and the Ark should have initiated or activated something here. The presence of the Flood on the Ark and Earth should have done something, but instead a Forerunner shield world was here in plain sight with a dormant or inactive defence system.
But then John remembered. Forerunner technology and the puzzles and questions associated with them were never a simple thing that you could explain away at random. There was always something around the corner that you had not taken into account.
“Chief!” shouted Cortana
John quickly moved back to where the computer console and Cortana were.
“What is it?”
“I’ve found the Library in the system,” she replied
“Like the one from the Halo’s?”
“Yes, but I can access this one remotely and there is more information here than anyone could ever imagine.” Cortana explained
“Like what?” enquired John
“All of their history, and I mean everything.” Said Cortana with an excited tone




[Edited on 06.13.2008 2:56 AM PDT]

  • 06.13.2008 2:43 AM PDT

November 7th 2552 (Forerunner shield world)

Linda returned to the camouflaged doorway with the doctor in tow, her heavy technical case was being carried by Kelly.
Despite the weight of the case, her speed had not in anyway been affected. It was as though she was carrying a box full of air.
Dr. Halsey stopped at the edge of the field and placed her hands on her hips until she caught her breath. Even when her Spartans moved slower than usual it was still hard to keep up with them.
The area in front of her was noticeably different, but only because she knew where to look and what it was.
The Covenant version of the active camouflage system was very similar to this Forerunner version and it was possible that the Covenant had probably adapted the alien technology at point in the past.
Catherine had seen its deadly effectiveness from the surveillance footage taken by her Spartans on operational deployments, and the terrified first-hand accounts of survivors. But this version just seemed more polished than the Covenant version; the spatial distortion around the edge of the field was not as great as that on the Covenant system. If her Spartans were to be equipped with this kind of technology they would be even more deadly.

After a brief look at the surrounding area, Catherine slowly walked into the camouflaged field and was immediately greeted with the Forerunner doorway and a pair of inquisitive Spartans, in this case Fred and Olivia.
The door was typical of the type of the technology that she had seen before. The switch to the right of the entrance was illuminated by a single red light, an obvious indication that it was locked.
Kelly set down the technical case next to Dr. Halsey and backed away slowly so she could watch her work. The Spartans were faster and stronger than any other Human but they were always dumbfounded when watching the doctor perform technical miracles.
Catherine pulled three, multi-coloured coax cables from the case and attached them to face of the switch. After several minutes of adjustments and a flurry of command inputs on her data pad, the light changed from red to green.
The Spartans quickly moved Catherine and her equipment away from the entrance and readied themselves for some much needed exploration.
Fred pressed the switch and the two sections of the door silently parted, before they cautiously entered the shell of the Dyson-sphere.


May 18th 2866 (Location Unknown)

John cautiously waited as Cortana trawled through the immense wealth of information that was now available. Her glowing skin was covered in the usual collection of unrecognisable hieroglyphs, except this time they were racing across her at an unbelievable speed.
John quickly realised that the amount of information that she was processing was far greater than he had initially imagined.

“Cortana.” Asked John
No answer came from her as she increased the speed of her processing until her blue body became a mind-numbing blur.
“Cortana!” bellowed John
Cortana rapidly shifted from her previous pace of processing to a more familiar gentle glide of blue lines and shapes. The expression on her face conveyed the depth of data that was now available to her.
“What have you found?” asked John in a relaxed tone
Cortana’s eyes repeatedly darted left and right, as though reading some invisible lexicon of information. Eventually she refocused on John, who was standing expectantly in front of the main Forerunner console.
“The amount of data here chief… is beyond imagining,” Cortana struggled to convey the information she was now in possession of. “I know everything about the Forerunners. Their history, the Flood and the wars they fought.”
“Wars?” enquired John “How many times did they fight the Flood?”
“They weren’t at war with just the Flood there was another enemy, before the Flood. It was because of this old enemy that they created the Flood, to fight for the Forerunners not against them.” She explained
“I think you should start at the beginning.”

“Over three million years ago the Forerunners were at war with an equally advanced species that they simply called “The Enemy”.
But this enemy was different to the Forerunners, even though both sides possessed advanced technology, The Enemy had the ability to partially adapt to possible threats. Their bodies and the armour they wore were capable of absorbing or deflecting some forms of energy, kinetic force and even deadly viral infections.”
Cortana paused briefly as though catching her breath, even though she had no need for oxygen.
“The Forerunners didn’t create the Flood by accident they made them to fight. The Flood are capable of killing and infecting even the hardiest of defenders, and they proved to be too much for this enemy.”
“So what happened to this enemy?” John asked
“I don’t know. A lot of the entries that are present in the library have been corrupted by the amount of time that has passed since this planet was constructed, and there other areas that I can’t access because of this. The same goes for the sensor systems and the camouflage technology.”
“So what’s this planet for?”
“At first I thought that this world was a prototype, designed to fight the Flood, but it’s not. This planet was designed and built as a defence platform, to be used against the Forerunners old enemy, a good old fashioned fortress or outpost. But instead of a world surrounded by ships and orbital platforms, the Forerunners have gone a step further and enveloped the entire planet in a kind of camouflage so that it wouldn’t be found in the first place.”

John began to think of the possibilities of the technology available here. If Humanity had discovered a world like this during the war, then a lot of lives would have been saved.
“If this was a world built to fight this…enemy, then does that mean the Flood won’t be contained here?”
“I’m not sure chief; they were present on every other Forerunner structure. But then the Halo’s were designed with the Flood in mind and their research program was continued until the very last moment. Then the rings were fired all those years ago.” Replied Cortana

John looked over at the pale faced Forerunner at the centre of the room, his stillness made John somewhat uneasy.
“What about him?”
“Before they used autonomous monitors, the Forerunners facilities were guarded and maintained by live members of their society. At the time it was the most reliable method of ensuring the operational status of wherever they were.” She explained
“So how do we wake him up?”
“We can’t chief, he’s in some kind of temporal stasis field. By all accounts he’s not even in this room; he’s separated from us by a bubble of slip-space. However, if the computer system was running properly I could probably access his monitoring directive, and speak to him.
“If the systems on this world are so corrupted, why has the monitor not dispatched a couple of sentinels to fix them?” John enquired
“I don’t know, he either doesn’t want to or he’s unable.” Replied Cortana

Cortana closed her eyes and went into another blur of processing, her skin made for a dizzying sight. After several minutes passed she returned with a way to solve their dilemma.
“I could re-boot the whole system that should fix most of the glitches and reset the security and sensor directives.”
“You want to re-boot a planet?” said John with a hint of sarcasm
“I know it sounds extreme, but it may be our best way of finding out where we are.”
“Do it.” Stated John
Cortana closed her eyes again and then the lights suddenly dimmed. A faint vibration emanated from beneath Johns feet, but it was nothing of concern. Then everything suddenly went dark.

John activated his night vision and he could see the rest of the room again, but Cortana had vanished from sight. He was suddenly filled with concern once again.
But as quickly as the darkness had descended it was immediately lifted and room was illuminated once again and Cortana reappeared at the computer console.
“Re-boot complete…all systems online…defence program active…sensors active…archive active. Everything’s back on chief now we can find out exactly where we…-“ Cortana cut off in mid conversation and looked around as though scanning the massive data files once more.
“What is it?” asked John
“The whole planet wasn’t just shielded by a camouflage field; it was immersed in a form of slip-space as well. But the faults that were present in both enabled us to see and land on the planet. But there were rips and tears in the field that distorted everything. That was why I was only activated at the last minute instead of from a safe distance. The sensors that I had working on the Forward unto Dawn were unable to detect the planet, but we entered through one of the slip-space gaps. After that everything was distorted, time, space everything.” Explained Cortana with a tone of excitement
“So what does that mean?”
“We weren’t drifting in space for 314 years chief. We were only out there for twenty four days.” Replied Cortana
John felt something that he had not felt for a long time, happiness. Earth would still be there and there was hope once more for his team to be alive.

  • 06.13.2008 2:57 AM PDT

“What about our location?” asked John
“Scanning,” Cortana moved a flurry of speed again before continuing “There is a vast network of levels and chambers all over the planet, but each weapons platform is separate from the rest and is independently powered. We are four levels down but this chamber goes down another thirty levels.”
“How far is Earth?”
“Unfortunately Earth is over sixty thousand light years from here, but if we can find a ship there should be no reason why we can’t get back in good time, especially with Forerunner technology.”
“Then let’s get going. We have a ship to find.” Replied John
“Wait chief, there’s an alarm in the system-the internal sensors have detected something,”
“What?” said John
“Us!” replied Cortana
Cortana activated the display screen at the end of the chamber which showed the corridor where the sentinel hatches were located. All of them were open and hundreds of the single-eyed drones were hurtling in their direction.
“Let’s prepare a worthy welcome for our guests then.” Stated John as he readied his assault rifle and pulled out the last of his grenades.

To Be Continued…

  • 06.13.2008 2:58 AM PDT
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wow man it just keeps getting better and better, you have to continue this, you definitely got me hooked , can't wait til part 7

  • 06.13.2008 10:00 AM PDT

International Army for the Liberation of Hotdogs.
" The Grunt " - Death Served on A Screaming Platter!
You lack the majestic curves of a ripe banana! YOU SIR ARE A PINEAPPLE
win
Justin Bieber sounds like two high-pitched walruses engaging in sex.

GIVE THIS MAN A COOKIE!!!!!!!!!!!
great man, screw a 6th book, this is all i am waiting for :D
Great writing skills, you should make your own book, and sell it to big companies so the world will know how awesome you are! (and get lots of money lol) cant wait till part 7!

  • 06.13.2008 10:04 AM PDT

Good stuff

  • 06.13.2008 11:10 AM PDT

outstanding work man, keep fighting the good fight
*thread saved*

  • 06.13.2008 2:39 PM PDT

Without me, it's just "Aweso".

I'm not a fan of the whole flood were made by forerunner theory but good job, you gave a reason why Cortana is still alive.

  • 06.14.2008 9:14 PM PDT

United We Forge Great group great people.
Owners of the Katana 1000 GS and you're in!
LOL

Posted by: tr00per117
10/10 even thoguh i didnt read it its probly good


lol

  • 06.14.2008 9:15 PM PDT

Thanks all!

  • 06.15.2008 11:45 AM PDT
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amazing
:)
:D

  • 06.15.2008 12:11 PM PDT

this is unbelievable

  • 06.16.2008 9:30 AM PDT
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10/10 great job i cant wait tell part 7 and i hope it comes soon

  • 06.17.2008 12:14 AM PDT

Where's my -blam!- cheeseburger!?

New Zealand Gamers

ANZAC Group

Mythic Conquerer #12

Bloody amazing story! Well worth the wait.

  • 06.17.2008 3:11 AM PDT