Posted by: X4N03R
Hey, this was just a quick story I wrote from my own experience of Halo:Reach Invasion play with my friend; we used the Elite Namelizer at HBO to generate names. I just thought it would be cool, so, yeah, tell me what you think.
Ergu 'Ixhusee stretched his lithe and muscular body, savouring the feel of his own strength in anticipation of the fight to come. Around him, his brothers made ready for their assault on the derelict Human vessel. Although the ship, designated Frigate class, and bearing the name UNSC Commonwealth was being decommissioned after taking significant damage from one of their own cruisers long before, it's overloaded AI core still contained information which could prove vital to the Covenant's extermination of the Humans, most notably the location of their home planet.
The Sangheili had dropped from Phantom just moments before; the dropship now hung motionless above in readiness of their departure - hopefully the soft whine of it's engine would not betray their presence for a while yet - although it would be unwise to assume that there would be no defenders of the vessel and that a sharp-eyed Human had not spotted their approach.
An initial task force of six, the Sangheili had been dispatched to retrieve the AI core with all necessary stealth. Failing this, reinforcements would be provided as and when necessary, but a discreet extraction was preferable, and they had been warned that in the incident of a resultant large-scale conflict here, diverting Covenant ground troops from other actions on the planet's surface , they would suffer the Prophet's displeasure, least of all should their mission prove to be a failure.
The warriors would operate in three separate fire teams of two individuals, decreasing the chance of their being spotted. 'Ixhusee was paired with Iegu 'Majotee; they had entered the Covenant military together, trained together and fought together, and their fighting skills were a perfect match for one another when they operated together in this way.
Now the fireteams split their separate ways and 'Ixhusee and 'Majotee began to move across the dry, dusty hard-baked earth, weaving between the cover provided by the various scrap material littering the shipyard, constantly alert, all the while heading for the western entrance point. 'Ixhusee reached the metal stairway leading up into the hull of the vessel first, rolling to a stop at it's foot, 'Majotee just behind. Slowly, they ascended the stairway into the gathering gloom within the bowels of the ship.
Reaching the corner of the scaffold, 'Ixhusee halted, and hunkered down low to the metal. Checking round behind him, 'Majotee had done the same, and they squatted together in the shadows, silent, waiting for the signal to advance further towards their objective. 'Ixhusee vented the cooling system of his Plasma Repeater, a compulsive action to check on the weapon's inner workings. Everything was in perfect working order, and the flaps slid shut; the Type-51 had only seen recent use with Covenant ground forces, and 'Ixhusee wanted to ensure the Improved Directed Energy Rifle would yield it's full potential in combat. He ran through his inventory once more, the T51 DER/I, a Type-25 Directed Energy or Plasma Pistol sidearm, and two adhesive Plasma Grenades. A fully equipped Sangheili Warrior, his equipment vastly differed from that of 'Majoree, who carried only a Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher or Needler, and one Plasma Grenade. However, his comrade's apparent lack of weaponry concealed the fact that his armor housed an Active Camouflage generator unit, and 'Ixhusee also knew of the Needler's impressive rate of fire, laying down a hail of deadly pink projectiles which pierced living tissue and detonated: it was a vicious weapon.
Up until now, the Sangheili had observed radio silence, but now the comm clicked - the second fireteam was in position. Moments later, the click came again, as the third fireteam reached their target. Shortly after, the comm let out a staccato burst of clicking, the signal for the assault to begin. The Sangheili had to reach the Human computer systems and hack in, remotely disabling the shielding system around the downed Frigate's AI Core; only then would they be able to access it for extraction.
'Ixhusee drew himself to his full height, bordering 8ft, and twitched his jaws in the Sangheili smile. "Come my brother, I grow weary of this hiding and skulking in the shadows like a frightened Unggoy," knowing full well that was precisely what his friend's role as an Assassin required. 'Majoree's reply was also laced with barbed wit, though 'Ixhusee could hear the laughter in his friend's voice: "Suit yourself, brother, but we cannot all be warriors who charge into combat as foolishly as the Jiralhanae." 'Ixhusee turned to see his friend's smile, but 'Majoree had already activated his Active Camouflage; even to 'Ixhusee's trained eyes all that was visible of the 7ft warrior was a barely discernible shimmer in mid-air - the distortion provided by the Active Camouflage generator rendered him nigh invisible. His rippling outline shivered past 'Ixhusee, who hurried to catch up.
Rounding a second bend, they were presented with another flight of stairs. 'Majoree sprinted up these at speed, becoming slightly more visible, while 'Ixhusee hung back, squatting low, and slowly advanced upwards; he had no Camouflage to stop an enemy identifying and targeting him. At the top of the stairs, he scanned left and right, and, seeing no visible threat, proceeded to the computer console beside which his squad mate was hunkering, now fully visible. He looked up at 'Ixhusee, and flexed his jaws in a Sangheili shrug. "A few minutes more, and we should have the command override codes. Our brothers attempt to break through on the other Human console." 'Ixhusee nodded, then stepped out from behind the bulwark onto the open upper deck. Hearing a clink, he looked down, just in time to see a round object with a slight trail of orange effervescence sparking from it come to rest at his feet.
'Ixhusee threw himself sideways behind the console as the grenade at his feet detonated with a loud thump. The explosion still ringing in his ears, he looked around; 'Majoree was already fading back into invisibility beside him, Needler drawn, but still focused hard at work on the Human console as as two more grenades detonated against the metal bulwark sheltering them. Bullets zinged and whined against the metal and 'Ixhusee saw the third fireteam, their efforts evidently thwarted at the other interface, advance up the stairs from which he and 'Majoree had just come, Repeaters blazing blue incandescence, shields flaring as they waded through the hail of projectile fire.
'Ixhusee watched as the first Warrior's shield burst and flickered out of existence and was cut down; he gave a snarl of anger as he watched the fallen Sangheili's squad mate squat down beside him, whether from out of remorse or from a bullet wound as his own shields crackled and died he did not know, but knew that now was the time to act. Righteous anger burned through his veins, his noble blood calling him to step out and confront the enemy. Whirling to the other side of the bulkhead from which the first grenade had detonated, he wheeled out of cover to face his foe.
He found himself staring into the blank mask that was the visor of a Demon.
Post comments below :)
Um yeah so I wrote this story and posted it on the Halo:Reach forum... got told to post it here on the Gallery. I've never been here before so tell me what you guys think and stuff.
Thanks to ajw34307 for the heads up.
Posted by: ajw34307
Post this in the Gallery too, it's the main hub for us storytellers.
I really enjoyed reading it, a few grammar issues here and there but no story is perfect. Great to see some more creativity coming from Reach too, hope to see you write more.
[Edited on 05.15.2010 11:15 AM PDT]