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  • Subject: [Story] Forerunner
Subject: [Story] Forerunner

How'd you find me?

This is a new fan fiction about one of the last forerunners in the Milky Way Galaxy. Yes Master Chief will be in it. Please comment!

Chapters:

1. Awakening

2. To Boldly Go Where No Reclaimer Has Gone Before

1.Awakening

My mind was at a state of rest. Not a single thought crossed its surface. It was frozen in a strange surreal slumber, untouched and pristine. Then, somehow, in some way, I was quite unexpectedly awoken.

The seal of my Slip Space Pod released, and my eyes opened. How long had it been since I had been sealed inside the containment pod? Pondering this question, I summoned one of the sentinels that had activated in the room when I had awoke. Removing my combat skin's helmet, I asked the construct how much time had passed since the firing of the Halo Array.

"Approximately one-hundred thousand years have passed since the firing of the Halo Array and our escape into slip space," the Sentinel informed me in it's cold, mechanical voice. "We recently reactivated and awoke you because the construct detected something. It seems that the Ark has been destroyed, and Project RESSURECTION is the last hope of surviving another Flood outbreak."

I was stunned. One hundred thousand years since The Didact fired the Halo Array? One hundred thousand years adrift in Slip Space, while the one safe haven from the firing of the array is destroyed? But the most shocking revelation of all: My people had abandoned their lives in the Milky Way forever.

"What of the rest of the my brothers? Surely this was not the only ship of Project RESSURECTION to escape the firing of The Array?" I feared the response to my question, for I knew I would not like the answer.

"I am sorry, Archivist. This was the only ship of Project RESSURECTION that escaped into Slip Space. I fear this ship is all that remains of this secret operation." Though the Sentinel was a mere construct, it still showed sympathy for my fallen brothers.

"And my crew? Did they survive as well? Or am I truly alone?" Though I still felt great sorrow knowing my race was dead, but if the crew of my vessel was still alive, there remained a chance to bring back my now dead species.

"We are all still alive, Archivist." Turning towards the opening letting into the room where I had awoken stood The Scribe. Her long black hair fell over her shoulders and covered some of her face. Under her left arm she held her combat skin helmet and held the threshold of the opening with her right. Next to her stood The Skeptic, who stood a whole head taller than her and had short, well-kept black hair. I was overjoyed to see my crew still alive.

"This is good news. This means that we can begin Operation RESSURECTION soon...and their might still be hope for our race."

****

Standing in the observation deck of my ship, I studied every detail of the research vessel I had been ordered to operate by The Didact. Much smaller in size than the powerful Key Ships, my vessel was a fifth their size. It was not meant for battle, but science; the laboratories aboard the ship were unrivaled by anything used by my people previously. Everything was state of the art, even the construct that operated the ship while my crew and I slept. However, my ship served a far greater purpose than mere science; in our hands we carried Project RESSURECTION, and the fate of an entire universe.

"Sir, we will be exiting Slip Space in the next few minutes." A Sentinel had flown in from a higher position in the ship and had come to hover beside me. The Sentinels we were using for Project RESSURECTION were different from that of the standard Sentinels on the Halos. They were closer in ability and design to Onyx Sentinels, able to talk and equipped with highly powerful laser beams. They were also given deployable containment fields for any specimen that might be required for us to study. Another useful trait they have: they work totally independent of constructs; my people learned much from the betrayal of Mendicant Bias. Though they were machines and not as complex as some constructs, they each had basic personalities and identification. This Sentinel was the same one that had been in my chamber when I awoke from my Slip Space Pod. Sentinel B-001, or "Lost Innocence," was the first sentinel created for Project RESSURECTION and seemed to have the personality of a leader figure. His central optical center, or "eye," was a bright orange and was inscribed with runes. He was also one of the strongest Sentinels aboard the ship because later models were given less powerful weapon systems. I personally considered Lost Innocence a friend, even though he was a construct.

"Good. Has The Construct found anything else about this era?"

"Yes." Lost Innocence's optic grew brighter, as if he was considering everything he had learned. "Not only has the Ark been destroyed, but so has Installation 04. If the Ark was not destroyed, Installation 04 could be rebuilt, but without it, we are not only missing one Installation, we can no longer mass fire they array."

"This is not good. Did the Construct detect any flood forms?"

"There were the flood forms on the surviving Installations. But we also found traces of them near the Ark. And we found something else too. We detected something near the Forerunner home world using the Luminaries- it is a Reclaimer."
My heart began to race, and images of home began to appear in my mind. I suddenly decided that the ship would change course.

"Tell the Construct to stop us from jumping out of Slip Space. We have a new destination."

Lost Innocence studied me carefully with his large single eye. "To where?"

My answer was short and simple. "Home."

[Edited on 07.28.2010 3:08 PM PDT]

  • 06.02.2010 8:11 PM PDT

An assassin will always carry on, even after death.

Its good but what about Shar the Sangheili and Dropping into hell?

  • 06.03.2010 1:26 AM PDT

I really like this story, and would like to see some more. I tried to write about the forerunners once, you may want to check it out. Feel free to take any parts as your own I really don't mind. "Awakening"

  • 06.06.2010 10:06 AM PDT

In the Emperor's name, you shall not falter!

Interesting.

  • 06.11.2010 6:21 PM PDT

"I believe that the sound of racking the pump of a shotgun is universally recognized as ‘kiss your ass goodbye’."
— Unknown Marine

saved

  • 06.11.2010 11:41 PM PDT

How'd you find me?

Great! Three more readers! Would any of you be interested in reading any of my other stories?

  • 06.12.2010 8:34 AM PDT

-eddy!
huh! What? It was the other guy, honest! ;)
'it was a sniper!' looks down at my sniper
uhh yeah? hes got one too. XD

wow this could go anywhere!
how humans are forunners?
how the forunners made/spared humans?
other?
cant wait, what the ETA?

  • 06.12.2010 2:45 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.

Jaw = Dropped. It will be very interesting to see everything from a forerunner's point of view. You need lots of connections to his past!

  • 06.12.2010 4:41 PM PDT

How'd you find me?

Wow, this story has really picked up. The only person to comment on the first part of my original fan fic was Wolverfrog. Thanks for all the support!

As for an ETA, I want to post the next part of my ODST fic before starting on the second part of forerunner. Expect more soon though.

  • 06.12.2010 4:53 PM PDT

How'd you find me?

Part 2 of Forerunner. Finally! I haven't posted anything in so long! Here it is, PART 2!!!!!

2. To Boldly Go Where No Reclaimer Has Gone Before

As I stared out into the vastness of space, I recalled what home was like. Our shining silver cities, vast expanses of sleek architecture mixed in with humbling nature. Sounds of life echoed through the streets, and all was perfect.

Then The Flood came.

Shutting away those painful memories, I removed my helmet and checked my vessel's progress through slip space. We were almost to our destination. Soon, we would find the Reclaimer that somehow came to our world. Then we would address another, new threat: the resurgence of the flood.

Lost Innocence and the construct had detected small flood spores in the debris field left by the Ark. Nothing that could become a problem. But then there were the other installations. Something had woken up the dormant samples on all of the remaining Halos. Scans indicated that already Proto Graveminds were being formed. Where had the flood trapped on the Installations found the biomass needed for such a feat? And what had awakened them? Only further investigation could give us the answers we sought. And we had to focus on the matters at hand: The Reclaimer.

The tiny, silver and gray orb housing the construct flew into the bridge. Lost Innocence was close behind, studying the construct with a look that somehow showed a great deal of annoyance, even though the closest thing to facial features he had was a single pulsing eye.

The Construct rushed towards me, stopping a few centimeters from my face. The glowing blue-white orb in its center brightened and dimmed to mimic speech, as if it were a mouth opening and closing.

"Creator of mine! I bring news!" Though The Didact had built the monitors, I had personally designed the Monitor and Sentinels of my ship. "We have learned what awakened the Flood and granted them sufficient bio-mass to begin development of a Grave Mind. It is a coalition of alien races known as the Covenant. They seem to worship your kind and your technology. And they believe they are your chosen species to carry on The Mantle. Ignorant fools, the Reclaimers are your chosen species. Why, they even had the nerve to wage a "Holy War" in your kind's name, declaring the Reclaimers heretics!"

"By The Precursors." I brought my hand to my forehead, embarrassed and shamed by the actions of "The Covenant." "What toll did this war have on The Reclaimers?"

The Construct's glowing eye lost color, and it looked down in sadness. "Only about two-hundred million five-thousand remain, my creator," the construct whispered, his voice weak and tormented, "even after the six years since the end of their war with The Covenant."

A lone tear rolled down my face and dripped to the floor. How could creatures that claimed to worship us do such harm to The Reclaimers? It was unbelievable.

Suddenly, The Scribe and The Skeptic entered the room. With a heavy heart, I informed them of the state of the Human race. Their reactions were worse than mine. The Scribe burst into tears, as did The Skeptic, and though I did my best to comfort them, I too felt great sadness. So many dead. And all of it done in our name. How could we continue on knowing this atrocity had been committed by species that worshipped us?

"We're about to reach the Mother World, Archivist," The Construct chirped, and we all turned to face him. It was time to meet the Reclaimer who had found our world. I counted down the seconds in my head. 123 and then we blasted out of Slip Space.
*****

John awoke to a loud noise. It sounded like heavy boots hitting metal. John then realized where he had just been. Cryo-sleep. Though he had not taken Cytprethaline, a drug necessary to stop fatalities from occurring while in the freezer, he had survived being frozen alive and thawing. But what had happened that he had been found, floating out in the middle of nowhere? Then John remembered Cortana, and his last spoken sentence to her: "Wake me when you need me." Did Cortana actually need him. And just where was he? Wherever he was, he was about to find out. The cryo-tube was open, and through the dense fog that spilled out of the pod, he could see three figures. John readied himself, and leapt into the air.

*****

[Edited on 07.06.2010 9:32 PM PDT]

  • 07.06.2010 9:25 PM PDT

How'd you find me?

So, I guess this is one of my writing cycles where I update all my fics and then leave everyone drooling for more. So first up: Forerunner.

3. Odd Similarity

The Reclaimer attacked swiftly, jumping from his primitive stasis pod and landing on The Skeptic's shoulders, trying to squeeze the air from his windpipe. It was a futile attack, however, as The Skeptic's Level 12 combat skin protected from most forms of physical and energy attacks while also increasing the wearers strength ten fold. The Skeptic took advantage of this aspect of his armor and tossed the green clad Reclaiemer across the wrecked hull of the ship. With a thud, the Reclaimer smashed into the wall and dropped to the floor.

"Was that necessary?" The Scribe asked, gesturing at the spot where the Reclaimer had fallen with her thumb.

"I was under threat and reacted accordingly," The Skeptic responded, calm and collected as always.

"You didn't have to hit him that, hard, though, did you? His vital signs are way down. You're lucky that toss didn't kill him." Another voice spoke. Female. But who? Besides the incapacitated Reclaimer and the sentinels, no one else was on the ship.

Simultaneously, my comrades and I turned towards the mysterious voice. The voices origin came as a shock: standing in front of the Reclaimer was a flickering blue hologram of a woman, a few inches high. She stood defensively, hands on her hips, like she was protecting the downed warrior.

As the hologram turned to examine the Reclaimer, I realized she was a construct, and seemed to be almost as complex as our own. My heart swelled with pride. Though it had taken them many long centuries, the species we had chosen to inherit our mantle had advanced to a technological level that had taken us much longer to achieve, without even relying on the use of more advanced species' technology. Oh, how they had grown.

"Are you alright, John?" the construct leaned towards the armored figure on the ground and spoke softly, as if talking to a child.

The Reclaimer shook his head once and stood, putting one arm on the wall to keep his balance. "I'm fine," he said weakly.

The Reclaimer turned towards us, and his vision seemed to focus on The Skeptic. I could feel the anger boiling off of him. I guessed the warrior wasn't used to losing his battles.

"Should I worry about you three?' he said, eyeing each of us warily in turn.

"You have nothing to fear from us, Reclaimer." As soon as I finished saying the word "Reclaimer," the warrior's eyes focused on me.

"Reclaimer," he began, staring at me, as if his vision could pierce through my visor and could see my eyes. "What does that mean? The Monitors called me that. Why? They were built by the forerunners, just like the Halo rings. And the terminals I read on the Ark referred to "Reclaimers" too. I'm pretty certain by now it's the forerunner term for 'human'. Is that it? Are you three forerunners?"

"You are correct," I stated, deactivating my Combat Skin's shielding and bringing my hands to my head to remove my helmet. "We are forerunner. And you and your kind are our Reclaimers." As I finished my sentence, I pressed the release button on my helmet and slowly took it off my head, before carefully placing it on the floor. My comrades did the same, and I continued to speak.

"My name is The Archivist. The one you fought with is called The Skeptic, and the last of our group is identified as The Scribe. Respectfully, Reclaimer, may I ask your name?"

For a few seconds, the Reclaimer said nothing. Then, resigned, he removed his helmet and stared me in the eyes. "My name is John, Spartan 117. The A.I."- John gestured at the flickering blue hologram at his foot-"is named Cortana. And may I ask why you're staring at me like that?"

I studied John's face. Reclaimer's looked remarkably similar to us since we first encountered them. However, they had changed much. No longer were they the primitive species they once were- they had evolved, their features becoming less primitive, and more defined- to the point that there was no noticeable difference between us and them.

We had chosen the right species to inherit the mantle, indeed.

After a few more seconds, I realized studying his features had made him uncomfortable. I acted swiftly to correct my error. "No reason. Wait. You mentioned the Monitors and the Halo array. Are you familiar with the flood?"

John grimaced and looked down. "Yes," he choked out. I swear, I could see fear on a face that had shown no emotion mere moments ago. "They're one of most dangerous adversaries- and the most horrifying." John looked back up, and all traces of fear were gone from his face. "But they're all dead now. I neutralized the Gravemind by destroying the Ark. They're not coming back."

My comrades and I exchanged uneasy looks. An uneasy silence suddenly filled the confined space of the severed half of John's ship. The Skeptic was the first one to break it.

"You're the one who destroyed the Ark?" The Skeptic said this and chuckled to himself.

"I don't know how to inform you, John, but the flood aren't gone." The Scribe spoke this time, the first words she had said to the Reclaimer. "The other flood samples on the ring worlds have been awakened, by a group of religious Zealots known as 'The Covenant.'"

A look of disdain crept onto John's face. "The Covenant," he said to no one in particular. "Of course.

  • 07.29.2010 3:36 AM PDT