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This topic has moved here: Subject: [Story] Coup de grâce. [UPDATED~17/06/2010]
  • Subject: [Story] Coup de grâce. [UPDATED~17/06/2010]
Subject: [Story] Coup de grâce. [UPDATED~17/06/2010]

And so, Achronos lifted the banhammer high above his head, exclaming "You shall not sully these forums again!" And with one, deft blow, he brought the banhammer down upon the offender, and slew him.

Bah, what's the point? You're only goingt to troll, flame or E-raip me.

Okay, before you say OH NOES! MORE SPARTANS! I have an explaination. This is on reach, after red team has jumped from the pelican. The two spartans are listed as K.I.A after the drop.

Spartan Team Black is a spartan sniper team, who where transferred to red team during the battle for Reach.

They are split from the rest of red team, deep in a reach forest.

And the forest is old. Older than humanity itself.

"Why the hell does it always end up like this?" Mick thought.
He was plummeting thousands of feet through the air, with no parachute, toward a plant being glassed by covenant ships.

All of Red team had been on the pelican when it was hit; and all had jumped out. Mick had accellerated ahead of them, diving almost vertically downward.

The wind tore against his armour, and the ground was coming up much too fast. He felt a sickening thump as his kit bag broke away from his armour, increasing his speed.

"Oh, -blam!-." He whispered. The kit bag wasn't just slowing him down; it contained his most prized possesion: his SR-99C sniper's rifle, along with all of his spotter's equipment.

The ground was coming up faster. He curled into a ball, and locked his armour solid. Draining all the power he could from tetriary computer systems, he fed a burst of power to his shields, and overpressurized his hydrostatics, to provide extra protection.

His armour was locked now. He couldn't see from his curled position, or feel anything through the overcharged shields.

He hit the floor, heard something shatter, and blacked out.

chapter 1

Kay landed on the floor with a swanlike grace, after cutting herself free from the parachute. The only spartan ever to be transferred to an airborne unit, she always kept a parachute handy.

"Now" She said, looking around. "Where am I?" She saw nothing but trees.

"Crap" she muttered, unslinging a DMR from her back. "God-Damn mother nature" That was it! Mother nature! The trees would help her get her bearings.

She walked over to the thickest tree in view, and climbed. It was a huge, agonising climb to the top, but the view she got was worth it.

Trees spread out for miles in all directions; to the north she saw menachite mountain; ONI's secret base.

To the south, a covenant cruiser burned acres of land with a single plasma round.

To the east she saw fighting; the last remnants of a shattered UNSC fighting an unwinnable war.

And to the west, a smoke collumn, rising from the forest, not too far away. A sign of life? She marked the area on her HUD, jumped from the tree, and made her way there.

**********

Mick awoke with a splitting headache. He tried to get up, but found he couldn't. His body just wouldn't respond.

"Oh god, please don't be paralized. Anything but paralized"

Then he started to remember; the thousand feet fall from the pelican; brushing trees on the way down; and the sickening crunch as he hit the floor.

He nudged a button in his helmet; the HUD flickered to life. He tried to move his legs, and the HUD flicked off.

"Damn" He said out loud.

His armour was locked; he had no communications; he might very well be paralized, and he was on a covenant occupied planet. even by spartan standards, he was pretty screwed.

A rustle ran through some bushes to the right of him. His spartan reflexes came into action, and he almost broke his neck.

Whatever it was approached him, he could feel it coming, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

Something was bending the light in front of him; was his visor malfunctioning again?

A spartan, standing seven foot tall in MJOLNIR Vp armour materialised in front of him. He recognised who it was immediately. Kay. His spotter, one of his closest friends from boot camp.

She rapped on his visor. "Is anybody in there?"

"Yes, of course I'm in here, idiot!" He shouted, his voice muffled by the helmet.

She moved her hands behind his helmet, and popped the seal.

"Now, I need to get out of this armour. I'm pretty sure it's leaking coolant." He said, relieved to be out of his steel prison.

"You know, I could just leave you here" She said.

"You wouldn't, you'd be lost without me. Now help me get this armour off, I cant move"

******

Kay was amazed at the amount of damage to Mick's armour. How the hell had the skipper done this? His shields were down, the fusion pack that powered his MJOLNIR S-class armour had literally exploded as he hit the floor, taking most of his rear armour plating with it.

"Thanks for that, Kay" He stood naked infront of her.

"I need some protection" He said smiling, realising what he had just said. He looked down at his armour. "I certainly will not be using that.

She looked at him; it was the first time she'd seen his eyes since boot camp. All spartan's eyes were blue; it was a side effect of the Bio-augmentation process used on them. There was something deeper about his eyes though; it was like being captured by a grav lift; she couldn't look away. She felt like she was staring into the deepest depths of the universe, and couldn't look back.

"Kay. KAY!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the trees.

"Sorry, sorry!" she said.

"I need you to find my kit bag. It contains a full suit of SPI armour. and my Sniper's rifle."

SPI armour? what was mick doing with SPI armour?

"I know what you're thinking. But I cant explain right now, it'll take too long. Just get it."

He walked up to his armour, and pulled a chip out of it. "This" he said, showing her the chip "Is my suit's NAV data. It has the location of the kit bag on it."

He plugged the NAV chip in, and hit the side of her head. Kay watched as her HUD flickered, and a navigational waypoint appeared to the south. A message appeared on-screen; "Processing". That was strange. MJOLNIR's armour computers were the most technologically advanced in humanity, They reacted at lightning speed. They would never just be "Processing". She'd check her armour systems later,now she just neede the kit bag.

The screen flickered once more, and a distance readout appeared above the marker. "It's done" she said, still pondering her armour's sluggeshness.

"Good, now get there, Fast . I have a feeling we're not gonna be alone for long." Mick replied, looking around the clearing he'd made anxiously.

Kay was concerned about her squadmate. It wasn't like spartans to be jumpy. Perhaps the events in orbit had shaken him somewhat. She just hoped it didn't compromise the mission. "look" she said. "Take my DMR. I'll be back as soon as possible" She slapped another mag into the weapon, and held it out.

"Thanks" he said, taking the gun. He looked through the DMR's optical scope, and fired a round at a nearby rock. It exploded into dust. He turned back to her with a huge grin on his face. "Go on, I want my sniper back" he said. Kay turned, and melted into the darkness once more.

**********

Mick watched as kay sprinted into the darkness, leaving him on his own. It then struck him; he was completely naked without his armour. He was vunerable, and he realised how reliant on it he had become. He had no motion tracker; no HyperReality system, and no protection.

A gutteral bark rattled through the forest, snapping him back from his thoughts. "Grunts" he said, and his spartan training kicked in. Spinning to the direction of the noise, he looked around and found his target; a grunt wearing the black armour of a covenant spec-ops unit. It was running from something, charging straight towards his position.

The grunt saw Mick, went to draw it's weapon from a holster... and died before it could fire a shot. The DMR round had blown the grunt's skull apart, like the rock from earlier, and had gone straight through it's methane tank. "Oh shi-" he screamed, diving for cover as the tank exploded.

***************

So, what do you think?

[Edited on 06.17.2010 3:17 PM PDT]

  • 05.16.2010 3:00 PM PDT
Subject: [story] Sniper Team Black: Homeward bound.

And so, Achronos lifted the banhammer high above his head, exclaming "You shall not sully these forums again!" And with one, deft blow, he brought the banhammer down upon the offender, and slew him.

Bah, what's the point? You're only goingt to troll, flame or E-raip me.

Raal shivered. Not from fear, or anticipation. Just because he was cold. A freezing wind blew through the trees ahead of him, contacted with his blue, mottled skin, and numbed his exposed arm. His armour had been stripped down; they had needed to make room for his camoflage generator. Apparantly the hierarchs didn't think he warranted an updated infiltrator set.

He turned to his spotter, who wore one of the newest combat setups. Raal loathed him; the Sanghelli was of 'Vadam blood, and the heirarchs, in their infinate wisdom, decided that this younger, lesser skilled inbred have everything he needed, and the bastard knew it.

He felt the tree shake beneath him; heard an explosion in the distance, and watched as a blue flame rocketed up from the sky. A methane explosion . His spotter almost fell from their tree in his excitement; the young sanghelli thought he was going to taste blood.

Raal checked the ground below him, jumped, and landed soundlessly on the mulchy forest floor. The 'Vadam did the same, and bared his teeth in a huge, menacing grin. The hunt was on . Tapping a button on his thigh, Raal activated his camoflage, watched as his arms, legs and Beam Rifle slowly dissapeared, and he set off silently, to stalk his prey.

*********

Kay was already making her way back to Mick when she heard the explosion, and started sprinting back. Explosions near a spartan meant trouble. She charged, pushing through branches and leaves, hopping over roots, leaping off rocks, and weaving through trees to reach him. She wasn't going to lose her sniper, not now.

*********

Mick lay prone on the floor, his ears ringing. The explosion had been huge. It had torn chunks out of the trees around him; leaves hung, shreaded by shrapnel. The floor around the explosion had been vapourised; only glass remained where the grunt had been.

"What a great way to kill someone..." He muttered, whilst regaining his senses.

As the adreniline pumped out of his system, he began to feel a numb throbbing pain in his back. Only to be expected, really, seeing how he'd just survived an explosion naked. Then, as time slowly ticked away, the pain got greater. He started to wince as the pain increased; he couldn't bear it anymore. In extreme agony, and against all of his natural urges, he moved his hand to the source of the pain. He felt something warm and sticky on his back; blood. His hand traced the gash, which was almost the whole length of his torso. He got lower, and found a chunk of metal lodged in the end of it.

He'd have to wait until Kay got back; there was some Biofoam in the kitbag.

  • 05.18.2010 1:08 PM PDT

Even the greatest were once at the bottom.

Cool, I made my computer read that to me. 'Tis good.

  • 05.18.2010 1:19 PM PDT

And so, Achronos lifted the banhammer high above his head, exclaming "You shall not sully these forums again!" And with one, deft blow, he brought the banhammer down upon the offender, and slew him.

Bah, what's the point? You're only goingt to troll, flame or E-raip me.

//System_Reboot: Initiated//
//System I.D: FS_327//
//Checking Flash Memory: Flash Transmission: X283//

//Opening...//

//From: Monitor: 343_Guilty_Spark: Installation 04//
//Brothers! The Reclaimer has returned! Rejoice! Our masters are here! The infection has spread. Prepare proper counterresponce. The Reclaimer will fire Halo, and our master's vision will come true once more!//
//-Message Ends-//

//Flash Transmission: X284//

//Opening...//

//From: Monitor: 294_Endevouring_Gaze: Installation: 07
//The Reclaimers have come, yet the flood is spreading. We must activate the sword. The flood must not be allowed to re-take this galaxy. We must stop them. The reclaimers are making good progress to the library, and I will help them all I can.//
//Message Ends//

//Attention! Reclaimers Detected!//
//Initiate Protocol 01: Bring Reclaimers to the object. Protect Reclaimers from Halo's fire//

//System Checks: Weapons system: Online//
//Anti-Grav system: Online//
//Translator: Online//

//All systems green//

> The flood will not harm the Reclaimers. We will win.

  • 05.19.2010 12:20 PM PDT

And so, Achronos lifted the banhammer high above his head, exclaming "You shall not sully these forums again!" And with one, deft blow, he brought the banhammer down upon the offender, and slew him.

Bah, what's the point? You're only goingt to troll, flame or E-raip me.

Part 4

Mick checked his on-board compass: they needed to head due east, to where Kay had seen the fighting. He turned, and motioned for her to stick close; they didn't know what was in this forest. Mick's helmet opened up a GPS channel with a military satellite in orbit, one of the few that the covenant hadn't destroyed. The sniper team was forty kilometers away from a firebase, codenamed Benelli.

Kay had opened an uplink too, and said; "We're gonna have to move double time"

She was right: by the time the squad got there, the whole planet may have already been glassed. Kay was already moving ahead of him, when she sent him another uplink; this time a direct patch into the UNSC SuperCarrier, Severance.

Mick listened intentely; he heard shouts of "Enemy here!" and "Plasma Strike! Vent atmosphere on those decks" but one stood out through the rest; a voice from the Severance was calling out firing solutions to a pair of orbital guns.

"X: Two-Four-One-Five, Y: Two-Nine-Seven, open fire" A voice further away called "Firing!"

A two second pause. Everyone on the ship went quiet. A scream. A scream of "Target destroyed!" the whole bridge crew erupted with a heartfelt "Yes!"

Mick was certain to keep listening; these ships might be their ticket of this god-forsaken planet. They progressed deeper into the forest, keeping one eye on the trees.

**********

The Severance shuddered as another MAC round launched from below decks. It flew at a fraction of the speed of light, pummeling through a covenant frigate's shields, passed into the nose of the ship and buried itself into the reactor core. The craft exploded, sending chunks of metal flying into space.

"Good kill" Group commander Jeremiah Wilcoxstood on the bridge of the severance, utterly exhausted. Out of the One-Hundred and Seventy ships that had been able to defend Reach, only forty remained. Now the commander had taken over leading this group, running Guerrilla fighting against an enemy that out-numbered, out-weighed and out-gunned him.

The ships had gathered around two orbital stations; the Stanforth and the Ackerson, and made a last-ditch effort to defend Reach. So far they had one well; the orbital stations were sniping ships at extreme range, and the Covenant seemed to be ignoring them.

"Sir, enemy ship inside gun range, you might want to look at this" his navigational officer called out.

"Put it on-screen, Lieutenant"

The Tac-Map before him dissapeared, replaced with a real time image of a Covenant ship, along with scale versions of UNSC and other covenant vessels.

"Jesus Christ..." He gasped. "Are these readings right?"

The lieutenant checked over his station; once, twice, three times. "Yes sir"

The ship was huge. It dwarfed the severance three times over, and was even bigger than the All Under Heaven , the flagship of the UNSC fleet. If there was one ship they needed to keep away from earth, it was this one.

"Celeste, get me-" He started, and a familiar, synthetic female voice cut across him; Celeste, the Severance's own purpose built AI. She never showed her holographic avatar, as the AI believed that the ship was her avatar; her body. She had been built into the whole ship, so she could monitor anything, anywhere.

"Firing solutions for that ship? I've sent the ships that are in effective range to your station."

Jeremiah looked down. counting the ships. Twenty-two in all. He doubted even that Covenant ship could stand up to twenty two MAC rounds.

"All ships, ready MACs!" He declared.

Green lights appeared in sequence as the ships charged their guns.

"Ready!" All of the lights winked on.

"Fire!" He shouted. A thunderous growl erupted from below decks, echoing through the ship. Twenty-four beams of light streaked toward the flagship.

"Wait, Twenty-four?" He said. He looked down; two of the ships were Iroquois class destroyers; they carried a pair of MAC guns, both capable of taking down a frigate.

A heartbeat went by; the two leading MAC rounds struck, taking out the ship's shields. The remaining ship-board MAC rounds punctured deep into the heart of it, strikeing the command center. The orbital MAC's struck last, the force of which snapped the ship in two, spraying debris and bodies everywhere. Cheers erupted from each ship as they watched it explode, it's reactor core exposed.

"Ah, -blam!-" The Lieutenant at the NAV station muttered. "Sir, Covenant ships inbound. About seventy of 'em"

************

  • 05.28.2010 8:42 AM PDT

And so, Achronos lifted the banhammer high above his head, exclaming "You shall not sully these forums again!" And with one, deft blow, he brought the banhammer down upon the offender, and slew him.

Bah, what's the point? You're only goingt to troll, flame or E-raip me.

"Holy -blam!-" Jeremiah whispered. They had no chance. The UNSC forces would be torn apart.

"We're... Screwed" a crewman said. The captain couldn't have put it better himself. Seventy covenant ships against fifty barely functioning UNSC craft. Even if the odds had been reversed, they would still have been beaten.

The ship-to-ship comm flared to life, filled with static. "This... Is the UNSC Prowler Enigma ... Minefield... deployed... Go-good luck." The captain looked at the intercom, shocked at what he had just heard. They still had prowlers in this area? He hadn't ordered a minefield, so who had?

The comm flared to life once more; "This is Vice admiral Harker, of Destroyer group D. We're coming to help you, hang on."

He was even more surprised. An Admiral? Here? With a whole destroyer group? Yes, Reach was a valuable planet, but he barely recognised it anymore; almost all of it's major settlements had been glassed.

"Sir, destroyer group on-screen, now" Another real-time image appeared next to the covenant threat; ten destroyers, more than had ever been deployed in a single group before. They fired; a salvo of twenty MAC rounds streaked toward their target, and all hit, ripping through shields, and pummeling deep into the hearts of the enemy ships. Ten down already. He was starting to like his odds.

Tapping an icon on the screen before him, he opened up a channel to the ships in his group.

"All units, form on the Severance . We're going to do the old 'divide and conquer' trick. Charge all Slipspace capacitors" A chorus of "Aye, Ayes" came through the intercomm, and the vessels accelerated with him.

"Ready MAC gun. We may only get one chance at this." The screen before him cut out as the enemy ships launched their plasma. A wall of deadly blue fire boiled and tumbled toward the destroyer group, who had no time to dodge; nine out of the ten ships were vapourised instantly. The last remaining ship, Harker's "Rhineland" jumped into slipspace, followed by four frigates.

"Open fire!" Jeremiah ordered. Another massive slavo of MAC rounds, followed by what little Archer missiles remained in the ships, sped toward the enemy's formation. A few spun into space, completely missing their targets. Most bounced off; smaller rounds had little effect on their shields. Fourteen ships were destroyed.

"We've made a dent" The Captain thought "But it won't be enough". The enemy still had easily enough firepower to take down Wilcox's battle group. He just hope this minefield took down more of them.

A pulse laser flashed from one of the ships, seemingly toward nothing; then the slimline shape of a prowler appeared, sliced in half by the beam.

"Damn" He muttered "That must be the Enigma "

Sides glowng, the enemy turned toward them, and advanced further. They edged closer and closer to the minefield, oblivious to the nuclear danger that awaited them. A bright flash of light from the center, bigger than any mine he had ever seen. A chain reaction around it, smaller explosions combining into a super-nova. Plasma launched from the ships as they were caught in the blast, and disintegrated.

"We can't maneuver. EMP fried almost everything. Our slipspace drives are shielded though, we can jump." The lieutenant said grimly. "I don't know wether we can jump back"

"Jump. Jump now" They had to get away from the plasma. The lieutenant tapped a command on his keypad, and the captain felt his ship lurch, and entered a slight phase of nausea.

"I hate to leave this place, but we have to" They'd been fighting here long and hard, lost thousands of good men and women, and just won against the longest odds. Yet now, because his battlegroup had been caught by the EMP, he had to leave, and never come back. He felt heartfelt sorrow at this, and was almost on the verge of tears when a comforting hand fell upon his shoulder; Lieutenant Jane Michaels.

"It was a wise decision, sir. How many more would we have lost trying to restart our engines?" She said.

He was, indeed, comforted by this. He knew the idea of trying to start the Severance's , or any other ships electronic systems, was suicide.

"All non-essential personnel to cryo. We're going back to earth" He settled into his captain's chair, unaware that for the past day he'd been stood on his feet

  • 05.28.2010 1:33 PM PDT

Hey, this isn't half bad. Of course, the major problem you have is with Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling. Try and use a spell checker and proof read a little more.

Your story is pretty good, and some of your description is great. I like your characters too. Keep going, don't let the lack of readers get you down.

  • 05.29.2010 5:44 AM PDT

And so, Achronos lifted the banhammer high above his head, exclaming "You shall not sully these forums again!" And with one, deft blow, he brought the banhammer down upon the offender, and slew him.

Bah, what's the point? You're only goingt to troll, flame or E-raip me.

I find most of my creativity comes out at night, but of, course, I'm tired at night. But thank you, and I have a few readers in a group, so they keep me going.

  • 05.29.2010 6:49 AM PDT
Subject: [Story] Coup de grâce. [UPDATED]

And so, Achronos lifted the banhammer high above his head, exclaming "You shall not sully these forums again!" And with one, deft blow, he brought the banhammer down upon the offender, and slew him.

Bah, what's the point? You're only goingt to troll, flame or E-raip me.

"-blam!-" Mick proclaimed, his voice echoing through the still air of the forest.

The connection to Severance 's bridge crackled with static, and cut off. Their last hope of leaving this god-damn place had gone, and the Spartans were stuck waiting for a covenant ship to come and glass them.

"No way." He whispered. He was a spartan, trained to fight against impossible odds; he'd infiltrated covenant bases, destroyed ships, fought battalions of troops single handedly.

Now he had his spotter, as well trained as he was. She hadn't told him about her previous missions; there was no time, but he could tell Kay was a veteran of many battles; the way she moved; slow, constantely scanning everywhere. Her face; she had scars, yes, every Spartan had scars, and wore them proudly, and yet her face, although she was only twenty, carried small wrinkles, and was worn from years of fighting.

He knew that with her backing him up, they would get off this planet.

His uplink crackled again, making Mick jump inside his armour.

"This is UNSC Prowler Quicksilver " A voice projected into his helmet, calm and authoritative.

"Hello? This is Spartan- 017. We need an evac" Mick replied

The uplink crackled again "Yes, I know who you are, Mick" The voice replied "You have twelve hours 'till we have to leave"

It cut off, leavng them in silence. How the hell did the mysterious voice know his name? He thought about it; prowlers where under direct orders from ONI, and if ONI didn't know about something, it hadn't happened.

"Come on, Kay. We need to get to that firebase. I think we've got ourselves a ride home"

She nodded, and set off east. Mick followed, checking behind them.

***********

> Warning! Warning! Reclaimers are moving away from the object!
> Initiate Slipspace rift. We must bring the Reclaimers to the object
> Initiating...

*********

The compass on mick's HUD started to spin violently as a blue flash of light appeared overhead, shining through the trees. His GPS map fuzzed over with static, and red writing appeared above it: Signal Lost.

"The covenant must be taking out Reach's sattelites" Mick thought.

Kay started a comm link with him; "We need to make sure we don't get lost; we need to do something to mark our path"

She was right; it was all too easy to get lost in this forest; it was huge, dark and confusing. He removed an elongated combat knife from a holster on his chestplate, and walked over to a nearby tree. The spartan slashed the bark with his knife. Or, at least, he thought he did. Sparks erupted from the bark, and his arm reverbarated from the force.

He checked his knife; the blade was completely blunt, yet the tree didn't have a scratch.

"What... The... Hell..?" Kay came up behing him, staring at Mick's knife. She moved her hand infront of him, and pushed him back. Cycling a round into the chamber of her DMR, she took aim, and fired. The bullet bounced off the tree, deflected off something metal, and impacted Mick's shields, draining them to half.

"Never do that again" He said.

Kay turned, and fired at another tree, with the same effect. What the hell was happening? Just as he was about to fire at another tree, a warbling, synthesised voice emitted from the darkness.

"Hello, Reclaimer" It said.

Mick could see it now; an odd, triple boomed structure with a great, blue eye floating in the center, obviously suspended by some sort of anti-gravity system.

Kay activated her active camo, and turned to flank this new possible threat, but was stopped in her tracks as the floating thing hovered right infront of her face.

"There is no need to hide, reclaimer. I am not here to harm you"

Kay hesitated; she still wasn't sure whether this 'thing' was friendly or not. She de-activated her camofluage, but kept her weapon in hand.

"There, that is better, although I still cannot see you properly"

"What do you want?" Mick said apprehensively.

"I am surprised, Reclaimer" It carried on "You are late, and it appeared you had lost your way, I had to do something"

"What in god's name do you want, and who are you!?" Kay cried, closing fast on it.

A beam appeared from the thing's center orb, and shot Kay in the chest. Mick watched her shields crackle and pop away, as the beam stopped.

"I had to, reclaimer, protocol nine-seven indicates that a sentinel's first priority is self preservation, if only to protect my masters" The floating thing proclaimed.

"A sentinel, huh?" Kay continued "What do you want with us?"

The sentinel paused for a moment, the large eye at it's center growing dim. It looked up once more, and said;

"That question is simple, Reclaimer; I am taking you to the object"



[Edited on 06.05.2010 8:31 AM PDT]

  • 05.29.2010 11:53 AM PDT

And so, Achronos lifted the banhammer high above his head, exclaming "You shall not sully these forums again!" And with one, deft blow, he brought the banhammer down upon the offender, and slew him.

Bah, what's the point? You're only goingt to troll, flame or E-raip me.

Next part won't be for another week, going on mah hols.

  • 05.30.2010 5:14 AM PDT

Posted by: davidfazz243
Next part won't be for another week, going on mah hols.

Don't worry, you've given us a lot very quickly. Have a nice time - come back with some good ideas :)

  • 05.30.2010 1:58 PM PDT
Subject: [story] Sniper Team Black: Homeward bound.

And so, Achronos lifted the banhammer high above his head, exclaming "You shall not sully these forums again!" And with one, deft blow, he brought the banhammer down upon the offender, and slew him.

Bah, what's the point? You're only goingt to troll, flame or E-raip me.

"Fool of a 'Vadam!" Raal cried, slapping the wounded youngster across the face.

"You rash, ignorant bastard!" He shouted again, jabbing a finger into the 'Vadam's wounds.

The 'Vadam howled back in defiance and pain. It swung at Raal, witha half speed punch. He ducked, and the fist sailed over him.

"My Kinsmen will have your head for this!" He screamed "You have insulted the name of 'Vadam!"

"You yourself have insulted the name of 'Vadam. I doubt your kin want brash, incompetent fools in their ranks"

The 'Vadam now turned to insulting Raal's kin. "The 'Uma know nothing of ranks. You and your kin are uncivilised scum. You are little more than the Jiralhanae that dirty this holy covenant"

Raal's voice cooled with icy anger. He spoke with a strange certainty; the scum would die. "You dare insult my kin?" He said.

The scum spat in Raal's face, and in one, fluid movement, Raal's energy blade was drawn. He stabbed the sword into the ground, letting the two blades impact the dirt at each side of the scum's neck. If he moved, the blades would slice his neck.

"You wouldn't dare" The 'Vadam said.

"Oh wouldn't I?" Raal stepped full force on the blade, slicing through his neck. Raal spat on the 'Vadam's corpse, and turned away. He would hunt his pray now, alone. The way he was used to.

********

Mick still wasn't sure about this. Even after an hour of following this 'Sentinel' through the seemingly endless forest, things still didn't add up. This Sentinel, which Kay had found out was called 327, was obviously alien. The UNSC just didn't posses the technology to create it. It also wasn't a covenant design, as Mick and Kay would have been vapourised on the spot.

He was interrupted in his thought train by 327, who was blathering on about how important his fabled 'object' was to some sort of plan to save the reclaimers.

"Of course" 327 said "I am no ordinary sentinel. Many original sentinels were manufactured with one purpose only. I, however, was manufactured for many tasks, mainly to watch over this installation"

"Installation? This is Reach! One of the greatest shipyards of the UNSC!" Kay said.

"My, my" Said the Sentinel, almost to himself, "You really have forgotten everything, haven't you, reclaimers?"

At this, 327 began to explain why Reach was an installation; Mick watched as his mission timer ticked away, and soon an hour had passed. Mick drifted in and out, yet Kay was listening intentely; judging by her body language, this was not good.

"Once the Reclaimers on the other Halo installations activate them, the object will carry you to safety." 327 said.

"I'm sorry, what are the Halo installations?" Kay replied, stopping the sentinel mid-sentence.

"One moment, Reclaimer" 327 said. Once more, He turned away, the light in his center glowing dimly.

**********

//Flash Transmission: X-2348//
//Opening...//
//From: 343_Guilty_Spark: Installation-04//
----------------------------------------------------
//Brothers! The Reclaimer is trying to destroy my installation! We must stop him! He will leave all life in the universe vunerable to the flood! We cannot let him do this!//

//End Transmission//
----------------------------------------------------
//Flash Transmission: X-2349//
//Opening...//
//From: 294_Endevouring_Gaze: Installation-07//
----------------------------------------------------
//The Reclaimers in Grey have breached the library. I am damaged. They are planning on destroying the installation. All units in the vicinity converge. They must not escape//

//End Transmission//
----------------------------------------------------

> Situation: Reclaimers are destroying Halo installations.
> Processing...
> Reclaimers known as "Mick" and "Kay" will do the same.
> Terminate subjects: "Mick" and "Kay".

----------------------------------------------------

//Voice Module: Initiated//

****************************************************
"I am sorry, Reclaimers, but I will not let you harm this installation"

Mick turned as he heard this, and saw 327's eye start to glow red. He took aim, and fired four rounds into the orb; three bounced away into the forest; the fourth was disintegrated by a beam of light emitting from 327, which hit Mick square in the chest.

Kay used this moment of distraction to flank 327, and charged him. She leapt onto one of the sentinel's booms and sprayed C-7 foaming explosive all over him.

"Die, Reclaimer!" It boomed, spinning, and Kay was flung into a nearby tree.

"Mick! The detonator!" She screamed, as 327 blasted her with the beam. Her shields started to crackle, but the force of the beam kept her rooted to the spot.

Mick dropped his rifle, and sprinted full speed at 327, detonator in hand. When he was within reach of the sentinel,he leapt, grabbed hold of a beam, and pushed off with his legs, sending 327 spinning to the floor. He landed on top of it, the half ton weight of his MJOLNIR armour keeping 327 pinned to the floor.

"Protect this" He whispered, and plunged the detonator deep into the C-7 explosive.

He turned, and charged over to Kay's limp body, to protect her from the blast.

"Detonate" He whispered inside his helmet. The blast was huge, and sent splinters flying everywhere. His shields drained to a quarter, and he felt his skin prickle from the heat. Kay would have been torn to peices.

The dust and smoke settled around them, and in the center of it all was an orb, cracked, yet still floating. Some sort of liquid was pouring from the crack, turning the ground below into glass. A voice emitted from it; deeper, angrier than the first.

"Here this, Reclaimers" The voice seemed to reverberate around the forest. "You will not destroy this installation. My soldiers will come. You will not live to see out this day"

At that, the orb started to shake violently, and grew in brightness.

Kay was starting to come around, and groggily, she said "What... What happen-"

But before she could finish, Mick screamed "Get down!" and jumped upon her once more. The orb exploded with immense force, and sent the boiling liquid everywhere, which melted through the last of Mick's shields. He stood up, and helped Kay to.

"What did he mean about his soldiers?" She said, trying to hide the worry threatening to consume her.

"I don't know. But we have to keep moving, and find that firebase. Come on." Mick replied, picking up his rifle from the ground.

Kay nodded, and sprinted off, with Mick following her.

*******************

  • 06.06.2010 9:53 AM PDT

And so, Achronos lifted the banhammer high above his head, exclaming "You shall not sully these forums again!" And with one, deft blow, he brought the banhammer down upon the offender, and slew him.

Bah, what's the point? You're only goingt to troll, flame or E-raip me.

I'm not putting up another part 'till someone gives feedback.

  • 06.08.2010 1:00 PM PDT
Subject: [Story] Coup de grâce. [UPDATED~06/06/2010]

And so, Achronos lifted the banhammer high above his head, exclaming "You shall not sully these forums again!" And with one, deft blow, he brought the banhammer down upon the offender, and slew him.

Bah, what's the point? You're only goingt to troll, flame or E-raip me.

By some fluke, or maybe even the will of the forerunners, Raal found his pray. Typical humans; so arrogant to the world around them. They stopped, resting and eating an odd cube shaped substance; which the human with long hair obviously found disgusting.

Raal climbed, slowly, and stealthily, into the nearest tree. He de-activated the electro magnets that held his beam rifle to a backplate on his armour, and took aim.

His reticule hovered over the long-haired human; it was the least protected, having no helmet and no cover. He flicked off the weapon's safety, and exhaled, preparing to fire.

************

Mick's ears pricked up inside his helmet; a click not to far away alerted his senses. It was quiet, but easily noticable above the silence of the forest. His mind processed the information a millisecond too slowly, and his words of "Kay, get down!" Came too late; the beam had already contacted her skull, and torn straight through.

Anger rage and malice built up inside him, and gave him renewed speed; before the enemy sniper could react Mick had picked up his rifle, and was charging toward him.

Mick's tears blurred his vision, but he could still see the Elite hopping from tree to tree, in a feeble effort to escape. It hesitated for a moment, precariously balanced upon a single branch, weighing up it's next jump.

ick took his chance; he fired a single round through the Elite's leg, making it topple off, and land with an echoing 'Thump!' into the forest floor. It was stunned, but somehow gathered the strength to withdraw a plasma sword from it's side, that was covered in purple blood.

A feeble, fleeting idea that the elites were infighting passed through his mind, before it turned once again to vengeance. He charged, pulling an M6 pistol from his holster, and fired four rounds into the Elite's hand. It howled in agony, and dropped the sword.

Mick leapt up; and brought his knees smashing down into the elite's chest, crippleing it. He scooped up the energy sword from the ground, and trapped the creature's neck between the two blades.

"How ironic" It whispered, barely registering on Mick's translator. "That I should be killed in the same manner as that scumbag 'Vadam"

The Elite stared deep into the visor of Mick, it's eyes filled with a certainty of death. Mick's rage grew at this defiance, and from a satchel on his side he withdrew four tent pegs, and started to remove the Elite's hand and boot protection.

He pinned each arm down, and drove the tent pegs deep into their respective hand. Oblivious to the elite's cries and howls of pain, Mick stabbed the remaining tent pegs through the it's ankles. Then he stood, and removed the energy sword.

"There shall be no quick and easy death for you. Bleed, bastard." He said.

"Kill me!" It screamed "Or your honour shall be forever tarnished, demon!"

Mick smiled inside his helmet; how could this beast know anything of honour? Attacking a retreating enemy with their guard down, and skulking about in the woods, invisible? He said nothing, however, and walked back to Kay's body.

"I'm... So sorry..." He said, his anger now fading away into dejection. He welled with tears, and broke down; one thing that he'd never heard of within the spartans. He couldn't look at her face; that which had once been so graceful, so elegant was now destroyed, missing a quarter of flesh, bone and brain. He laid her down; under the oak tree that she had been sat, enjoying a few, peaceful moments of respite that were few and far between in a spartan's life.

He pushed on her helmet, and placed in her hand the DMR she so prized among all her possessions. He stood, an proclaimed to the forest;

"You were one mean-ass fighter, Kay. And one hell of a spotter" At that, he felt a single tear roll down his already moist cheek, and splash onto her armour.

"So sorry." He said, and turned away.

*******************

Section Two: Re-taking Reach

Jeremiah had been sat in Lord Hood's office for over an hour now, waiting for his decision. The fleet Admiral sat across a huge, solid oak desk, polished to perfection. Upon it sat multiple pictures; Hood's first posting, a sleek corvette known as the Executive Decision . Pretty ironic, Jeremiah thought, that it should be infront of him at a time like this. Another picture; Hood at the command of a Navy destroyer, at the battle of the eriandus asteroid belt.

"Well" Hood said, finally disrupting the uncomfortable silence. "You did a bloody good job out there"

Jeremiah nodded in thanks. It took a lot for the master of all the UNSC forces to give out a compliment.

"We need another day or two, to fully prepare. You, Group Admiral Wilcox, are going back to war" He said, tossing a box over to Jeremiah. Inside was a three star insignia, ready to be pinned to the Admiral's shoulder.

"Thank you, Lord Hood" He said, saluting.

"You earned it. now go on, you have a lot to prepare for." Hood replied. The fleet admiral was right: there were so many things that needed doing. Repairs needed to be made, ships needed to be prepared, and plans needed to be drawn up. He was in command now, and he would not fail.

  • 06.10.2010 9:41 AM PDT
  • gamertag: [none]
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Love the story, keep it up.

  • 06.10.2010 11:13 AM PDT

Posted by: Dropship dude
No, acnboy. Spartain Ken 15 is a lesser being. Much like the bacteria that lives in your shi­t.
Posted by: mike120593
My shi­t bacteria takes offense to that comparison.

Don't make me lel. You won't like me when I lel.

(saves thread)

I'm strapped for time at the moment, but I promise I'll read it later.

  • 06.11.2010 11:42 PM PDT

very good story, keep up the good work

  • 06.13.2010 6:56 AM PDT
Subject: [Story] Coup de grâce. [UPDATED~10/06/2010]

And so, Achronos lifted the banhammer high above his head, exclaming "You shall not sully these forums again!" And with one, deft blow, he brought the banhammer down upon the offender, and slew him.

Bah, what's the point? You're only goingt to troll, flame or E-raip me.

**********

Jeremiah was amazed at the UNSC. Two days ago he'd been begging Lord Hood for thirty, maybe even forty ships to go and scout reach, and try to take it back. Now, he stood on the flagship of a fleet one hundred strong, bristling with cruisers and destroyers of every shape and size.

Hood had offered him two choices of flagship; his ship, the Supercarrier Severance , or the Destroyer Flight From Nightmares , the most advanced ship in the fleet and yet here he was, stood on the bridge of the Severance , commanding his ship, his crew and his A.I. Every single man on this ship obeyed and respected him, and that was a quality he knew he'd need for the oncoming fight.

"Status on the fleet?" He demanded.

"Almost all ships are green, sir" The lieutenant at the logistics station replied "However, we still have two ships on standby. I'm sending the data to your station now"

The Admiral looked down; below him was an extra console that had been hastily attached to his command station, to monitor the fleet. Rows and rows of lights showed on-screen; green indicating the ship was combat ready, amber for minor damage, red for major, and the light turned completely off if the ship was destroyed.

He searched through, and using touch-screen controls, selected the two amber ships. Their files appeared before him; one ship, the Judgement Day , a destroyer, was having trouble with its FTL drive. He'd need the ship, but he'd also need speed. The covenant would not be expecting an attack so early, and Jeremiah wanted the element of surprise.

The second ship was more trivial; the ARCHER targeting systems aboard it were malfunctioning, and would not track a target. He decided to approve the ship, as his strategy would focus on MAC weaponry.

He tapped a command into the console; an encrypted channel opened, directly into Lord Hood's office.

"Ah, our new admiral!" He said, with all the grandeur required of his rank. "What do you require?"

"Sir, my fleet is operational. Moving out now". Wilcox replied, typing in more commands.

"Well, godspeed admiral, and good luck" Hood said, saluting.
Jeremiah promptly returned the salute, and killed the link. He turned to his crew, and said;

"Well, what are you waiting for? There will be no inspirational speeches here; you know the risks, you know what's riding on this. Now lets go out there and kick some covenant ass!" He said. The bridge crew snapped into action; everyone was working furiously.

The Severance turned, its movements matched by the Flight From Nightmares , which Jeremiah had chosen to protect his flagship. He hoped the captain would be up to the job.

"Jumping... Now" Said the NAV officer, and ninety-nine ships all lept into the slipstream in unison.

It would be a long flight to reach, and Wilcox hoped it was worth it.

*************

The Severance exited the slipstream violently, closely followed by the Flight From Nightmares . Before Jeremiah could recover, however, the ship's anomaly warning blared, and his Ops screen zoomed toward it. What he saw shocked him. A covenant flagship floated through the remains of reach's defence force, with a UNSC frigate attached to it.

Millions of possibilities span through Jeremiah's mind. Had the covenant captured and intact Nav database? Or had a spec-ops unit taken a covenant ship? There were too many possibilities. He was on the verge of mental block, when Celeste appeared in her holo-tank, which was extremely unusual for her.

"Captain, I have analysed the ship. The frigate is the UNSC Gettysburg, who destroyed their Nav database at the start. I-"

Celeste was cut short by... Something. Her avatar fell, hand on head, and started to shake. Her usual green colouring turned red, and she seemed to bleed.

"Celeste, are you oka-" The Admiral too was cut short. An inhuman scream emitted from the bridge speakers, followed by the word; "Infidel". It sent a shudder down the bridge crew's spine, and although he didn't show it, Jeremiah was freaked out too.

"I... I'm fine..." Celeste said, picking herself up off the tank's floor. "Covenant A.I. Took me by surprise. Captain, I've spoken to Cortana, Halsey's A.I. They've taken the ship, I don't have much time."

"But... Not much time? What?" The Admiral said, his voice filled with worry.

"Can't... Explain... Got to... Sorry, sir." She said, struggling to salute. "Just one last duty"

Her avatar winked off, and hundreds of status messages flashed on-screen. The first, priority message was: Warning, A.I. Forcefully Removed. All systems onto manual. Another message, one directly addressed to him opened. Inside it read;

'Captain, I'm sorry. The Covenant A.I. made one last shot directly at me before Cortana destroyed it. I had to destroy myself to stop it transmitting all of my data. Admiral, I'm so sorry.'

[Edited on 06.15.2010 3:05 PM PDT]

  • 06.14.2010 3:59 PM PDT
Subject: [story] Sniper Team Black: Homeward bound.

And so, Achronos lifted the banhammer high above his head, exclaming "You shall not sully these forums again!" And with one, deft blow, he brought the banhammer down upon the offender, and slew him.

Bah, what's the point? You're only goingt to troll, flame or E-raip me.

Last post expanded.

  • 06.15.2010 3:08 PM PDT

And so, Achronos lifted the banhammer high above his head, exclaming "You shall not sully these forums again!" And with one, deft blow, he brought the banhammer down upon the offender, and slew him.

Bah, what's the point? You're only goingt to troll, flame or E-raip me.

************

Mick's legs pumped, faster and harder then he'd ever sprinted before. Something was following him, and although he hadn't seen it, he had a sneaking suspicion of what it was. His feet dug deep into the loamy undergrowth of the forest, and he found himself leaping from tree root to tree root. He fought the urge to look back, knowing that any loss of speed would likely kill him. He tripped, tumbling to the ground.

"Ah -blam!-" He said, wincing. He landed flat on his back, tearing the biofoam that held his wound together. He felt warm, sticky blood seep down his back. He rolled to his front, causing a bigger tear, and leapt to his feet in extreme agony.

"Oh, no" The follower advanced on him, a bright light emitting from the center of the structure. The light shone into his eyes, temporarily blinding Mick.

Bold, red writing was typed onto his HUD: "Hello, Reclaimer"

"Not this again" He whispered. He had to do something about this, before the sentinel figured out who he was. His hands dropped to his sides, apparently in relaxation. The sentinel came closer, and, in one, smooth motion, Mick swept a plasma grenade from his side (that he had stolen from the Elite) and tossed it onto the sentinel's eye.

It recoiled in shock, trying to shake the pulsing device from itself, while Mick turned and sprinted into the forest once more. Mick heard a satisfying whine and an explosion as the grenade detonated, melting the casing of the sentinel. He slowed down to a jog, finally taking in his surroundings.

The forest was lush, filled with life and activity. He watched native squirrels hop from tree to tree, beetles scuttle beneath leaves, birds singing and feeding their young, and flies, so many flies that they formed a haze infront of him. After a while he started to become attuned to the forest; sensing any changes from the natural hustle and bustle, changes in smell, or noice levels.

New air filtered through his helmet, fresh, cooler air. He was getting close to an exit. he sprinted forward, his heart now filled with hope; maybe he would find a way off this god forsaken rock after all. He heard gunfire in the distance, followed by the whine of covenant plasma weapons. He saw light before him, breaking through small gaps between the trees. He charged through, and found himself stood upon a hill, looking down on a UNSC firebase.

He dropped to one knee, and looked through his sniper scope at the battle below. All types of fighter were defending the base; marines, ODSTs, police forces, even some Reach Army Core soldiers were fighting. Sheets of different calibre bullets erupted from the fighter's weapons, ripping through shields, purple flesh, and bone. Dozens of tattered corpses lay, torn apart, on the floor. Some were so disfigured that he couldn't tell which was which; elites, grunts, jackals and humans all lay spread around the killzone.

It appeared the UNSC were winning, or, at least to the soldiers in the base it did. Mick saw what was truly happening; a black armoured spec-ops unit was being led in a flanking maneuver around the base, being headed by a Gold-armoured field commander. Mick had half a mind to leave them, and let the humans below pay the price for their over-confidence.

"No" He whispered, remembering Kay. "No more humans die today".

He aimed through the site at the elite's neck. It was muscular, and what he took to be jugular veins stuck out, a vunerable spot in the otherwise impenetrable facade. He breathed out, steadying his shaking hands. Compensating for drop, his lighting fast reactions enabled him to pull off three shots in quick succession. The first deflected off its shields, spinning away into some unknown area. The second and third rounds blasted through, ripping two fist-sized holes into it, and spattering its squadmate in blood, bone and gore.

He dropped the mag from his rifle, and slammed another one in. Sighting again, he watched the enemy fireteam through it. The second in command, right behind his first target, turned to the source of the shooting, and recieved four rounds to the face for his trouble. The rounds punched through its four mandibles, blasting the back of its head apart.

The rest turned, spraying Mick's position with plasma fire. He was pinned down, and the enemies were advancing fast. Thankfully, the marines had realised what was happening, and drew two squads away to help him. Sixty rounds rapid fire sprayed from ten MA5Bs, and blasted through the elite's exposed backs, killing them instantly.

Mick stood up, and waved a thanks to the marines who helped him. They were ODSTs, the best of the best, apart from spartans like Mick. An ODST with a red arm band, indicating a fireteam leader, turned and saluted him. In this split second hesitation, the marine took a beam to the side of the head, killing him instantly. Mick looked closer; the helmet's inside visor was spattered with blood and bone, indicating that the human's head had exploded.

Mick dropped prone, and cast around to find the source of the shot. He couldn't see, it had all been too sudden. Another beam caught an ODST in the arm, spraying blood on his team mates. He fell, clutching his arm, screaming in pain. This shot gave away the sniper's position, and he found them, in a rockfall next to a cliff. The spotter looked through a strange, purple device, not unlike Kay's old spotter scope, that resided in her kit bag, all the way back in the forest.

"Didn't you hear me!?" He shouted "No. More. Die!" He pumped off four rounds, two for each enemy, and watched as they tumbled from their perch in the cliff, missing a head each. He punched his last magazine into the rifle, and took his last few shots, killing off a leader. This seemed to panic the enemy, and they fell back, all the while being harrassed by warthogs.

Mick sprinted down to the firebase, and realised just how badly they were fairing. Half of the buildings carried plasma scoring, and some had fused into solid blocks. He wandered into the field hospital of the base, a depressing, dreary affair. They were running critically low on supplies, both standard and makeshift, and this latest attack had seriously taken it out of them. Nevertheless, marines seemed to perk up seeing him, a mythical spartan, wander through their base. He didn't deserve their affection; he'd let a friend die under his watch, and then, to top it all off, he'd tortured an enemy, which repulsed him.

An ODST sprinted up to him, killing his spiral of depressive thoughts, and saluted.

"Private William Dean, sir. Good to see you here, spartan, but the Major wants to see you" He said. Mick was befuddled; ODSTs were usually extremely hostile to spartans, seeing them as freaks. The catalyst to all this was John's "scripted" encounter with three ODSTs, were he killed three, and seriously injured another.

"I thought you guys hated us spartans?" Mick asked, inable to control the interest in is voice.

"What? Oh, the armour. Nah, I'm no ODST. Not crazy enough" The soldier replied, tapping a fist on his helmet. "I'm part of the Reach Defense Force. First battalion, and to be perfectly honest, you guys are awesome"

"Well, thank you mar- erm, soldier. Take me to your Major" Mick said.

Private Dean jogged forward, leading Mick through a maze of poly tunnels, charred buildings, and bombed-out hallways. After what seemed like an hour of running and security checks, he found himself infront of a pristine oak door. He cautiously opened it, and walked into a room that was too small for the door.

Before him, across a small, wooden desk, sat an ODST in full battle armour. "Sorry about the helmet, I don't like to be without it in a battlezone. Although that didn't much help Akens"

"Sir, you wanted to see me?" Mick asked, itching to get back to action.

"Yes, I just wanted to say bloody good job out there, but we need you for a new mission" The ODST stood up, almost as tall as a spartan. He was certainly an imposing man, even behind layers of armour.

"We've heard reports of a battle in space; the UNSC are trying to take back reach" He said, tossing a datapad to Mick. He opened the file inside, and was stunned. They were sending a force one-hundred strong to re-take the planet? He had to warn them. If there were more sentinels on this planet, they could rip the UNSC fleet to shreds, and leave earth defenseless.

"Christ..." He whispered.

"I know. We need to get a message out, sow them we're still fighting. We'll take back this planet, no problem. That's where you come in; we only know of one transmitter, and that's in covenant hands"

Mick summed the idea up in an instant. "And you want me to take it back."

The ODST nodded. "Exactly" He said.

"You'll need to find fireteam zulu, they'll be your support on this mission, and will brief you when you get there. Good luck, you'll need it" He said.

"One more thing..." Mick added. "What should I call you?"

"Sedavian" He replied. "Major Sedavian"

  • 06.17.2010 3:16 PM PDT

damn good story

  • 06.19.2010 10:22 AM PDT

And so, Achronos lifted the banhammer high above his head, exclaming "You shall not sully these forums again!" And with one, deft blow, he brought the banhammer down upon the offender, and slew him.

Bah, what's the point? You're only goingt to troll, flame or E-raip me.

Posted by: johnson pwns
damn good story


Really?

  • 06.19.2010 12:59 PM PDT

Posted by: davidfazz243
Posted by: johnson pwns
damn good story


Really?

-blam!- yeah it is. lol, keep up the good work

  • 06.20.2010 5:22 AM PDT