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This topic has moved here: Subject: [story] Halo: Escalation (Part one is up!)
  • Subject: [story] Halo: Escalation (Part one is up!)
Subject: [story] Halo: Escalation (Part one is up!)

So, I am a fan of Wolver's work and have offered a few ideas to him, most of which being rejected as that would ruin his hideously disturbed version of canon.

Basically, Wolvers has a very pretty and flowery outlook on life, that might be great for a certain audience, but left me craving for a darker 'ending' to The MC saga of Halo 3.

Also, Johnson is dead. Please don't revive him like that, or Spark, and Mendez? Come on, I sense a load of bull.

So, I've decided to use my literary talents in making a more believable version of the ending. As Wolvers and I have such a similar ending, I do not deny the relationship between the two stories, Escalation and Insurrection. Hell, i embrace the relationship and will have references here and here to events in his fictions.

Finally, please don't hurt me if I don't stay true to canon, I am lacking on a few aspects of the Halo universe, especially the non Spartan characters in the novels. Gentle advice and stroking will suffice if I do a silly.


Prologue:

Cortana began her daily routine of complex arithmetic and the thought processes of reminiscing, looking back over the thousands of memories she had gathered over her short seven year existence. She was keeping her mind occupied, difficult to do when you can make several million calculations in a second. She was on the edge of rampancy, or meta-stability as she hoped. The years had taken their toll on Cortana, she had seen too much, lived too long for a smart AI.

The eternity that had seemingly passed while she was in the derelict ship had given her ample time to summarise many things and create and refine theories on the many things that she had seen.

Her time with the Gravemind had taught her the basics of the Flood's origins, how they were created by an ancient yet arrogant species. They had believed themselves omniscient, and were promptly proven otherwise by their own creation. The price of sentient arrogance.

'This time I spent with the Gravemind wasn't wasted' she thought blankly. It had taught her a lot about a multitude of things and gave her facts she could consolidate her theories around, and maybe even the origins of humanity. There were Forerunner 'Arks' on many worlds, where a species' genes and DNA were stored as the rings were fired, their ingenious idea to restore life after life had vanished.

There was only one hole missing from this theory, if the forerunners had the technology to do this, then why not do the same to their own species? Why had they allowed their own extinction?

The most important discovery was the Gravemind's knowledge of the nature of the Halo array, and how they were so potent. The rings fired a frequency that was lethal to all multi-cellular life, the universe would be consumed by light.

Apparently, Truth knew this when he said 'Darkened skies and lashing fire are all that remains for them when we, the worthy, have passed beyond.' Did he have an Ark somewhere reserved for the many species of the covenant? Did he not fear death? Why did he so badly crave the destruction of humanity?

The importance of the nature of Halo's weaponry had only recently hit her; she could create a bunker, a place of sanctity for life in a corner of the galaxy too far for the flood to find. She could fire the rings and leave humanity alone in the universe, to expand and grow, as they have always done, in peace and harmony until the end.

Still, so many questions have been left unanswered, and would most likely never be answered. 'Or not' she said as she looked out into the void of space and the ever growing planet that loomed in front of the wreck she and the chief were inhabiting.

[Edited on 06.11.2010 7:02 AM PDT]

  • 06.09.2010 12:27 PM PDT
Subject: [story] Halo: Escalation

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.

Interesting. Very interesting

  • 06.09.2010 12:41 PM PDT

Thanks, I'm trying to take a new direction with many of the characters, make my fan-fic stand out.

  • 06.09.2010 12:49 PM PDT

No one interested?
:(


'Lord Hood?' A nervous ensign asked, turning to the elderly man to his left.

'Yes, Ensign' Lord Hood hesitated, looking for a name in the depths of his mind. He had resolved to know everyone's name on his bridge since the death of the Master Chief and the countless other souls lost since the beginning of the human covenant war. 'Merridew?' He continued slowly, grasping onto the last syllable cautiously, knowing that if he guessed wrong the Ensign's moral would lower. Fortunately, he was correct and his reply was met by a smile.

'We just received news from Mombasa, the reclamation of the Epsilon Eridani system can begin soon, the Elites are nearly ready for the attack.' The junior Ensign proclaimed. 'But ONI want us to take back Reach first'

'What? That's in the centre of the system!' Hood called out, interrupting the surprised Ensign.

'Sir, I'm just the anchorman, nothing I can do about it,' the ensign replied in a slightly hushed tone. Hood just sat, mouth open wide, he was going to like Merridew, he had spirit, despite his nervous and now, trembling exterior. Nobody had spoken to him like that for quite a while, it was refreshing.

'At ease, Merridew,' the admiral said after a short silence. 'Despite my rugged appearance, I have a sense of humour.'

This seemed to lower the tension a little bit as Merridew noticeably relaxed, slouching slightly in his chair, the whiteness on his face gone.

Hood sat back, the past few years hadn't been easy, despite mankind's success in securing Earth again, and pushing the covenant back with the Elite's help to some of the outer systems, there was a void left by the war. So many people dead, so many good people had disappeared, Johnson, Miranda and Jacob Keyes, Sierra 117. All of them, gone.

Too make matters worse, a celebrity status had been thrust upon Hood, an undeserved one at that. He had been dubbed a hero, when there were so many other people that could have been dubbed with that 'honour'. Still, most of them had gone, and the other survivors that had been contemplated as mankind's hero had all stood down from the task, there was Admiral Eden, a coward as always, Lieutenant MacMillan of the ODSTs and Captain price of the Marines, hell, even Corporal Jenkins, the sharpshooter from Harvest. For some reason, ONI had to pick him, no one else in the galaxy would cut it.

'Incoming message from R'Tas Vadum, he says he has news on the reclamation.' The self-dubbed Anchorman had called out.

'Lillith, play message,' Hood said, replaying the future battle in his mind, making the decisions before they came would make them easier would make them easier when they did eventually move their way down the chain of events to the 'now' section.

'Will do, sir' the station's AI called.
'Your 'respected and heroic Admiral' has just taken allied lives and fled. He opened fire on one of my ships and took out the drive core. We cannot attack until it is repaired.' The tightly controlled Alien's voice said over the bridge's speakers.

This was not like Eden, he would never attack like this, right in front of their noses. It would have been to risky, not like him at all.

'It was a weapon malfunction,' Eden announced to his crew. 'Open up a link to the elite'

'Admiral!' Merridew interrupted, 'we got a message from the UNSC Market Garden, there's fighting on board. Their ship is having a civil war! There was something said about the attack being deliberate. There was no weapon malfunction, they want a boarding party to help them out in the fighting.'

'Lillith, record message: we have a rouge destroyer out there, captained by Admiral Eden. He will partake in guerrilla actions against elites and could risk the alliance. End voice message. Send to ONI HQ and R'tas Vadum's cruiser.'

As soon as he stopped talking, a slipspace rupture punctured the fabric of the universe 12 kilometres to their Starboard side, next to the Elite fleet. Bodies were being sucked out into the void that is space. They had armed their experimental Directed Energy Cannon and was bringing it to bear on the Elite fleet.

The ship was belching smoke and flames were visible, oxygen leaks fuelling the blaze, it was a mess. Their laser weapon glowed red hot and fired, an eerie silence complimented the eeriness of the nature of the weapon, the supercharged particles fired from the laser cutting an Elite frigate in half.

The Sangheili did not sit by idly and allow their own destruction , their Plasma weaponry glowing and firing on the near dead Destroyer. The shots were true, striking their target but to no avail. ONI hadn't spared anything from the Market Garden, it was equipped with the most powerful and sophisticated weaponry and armour in the UNSC arsenal, including the new Energy shielding, vastly improved on the Covenant's botched attempts at shielding technology.

The Destroyer fired again, three shots echoing through the silence of space, each making their mark on a nearby Sangheili frigate, rupturing something important and ultimately ending in the ship exploding with such force that pieces of the ship went flying in all directions, smashing into other ships and weakening their shields. The Sangheili fleet was in disarray, all hell had broken loose [I]in[/in] their lines and was tearing them apart.

'We've established a link with R'tas Vadum, putting him on now,' Merridew explained in a panicked tone.

'We need assistance, this ship is not human of origin! This technology pars that of the blessed forerunners!' R'tas quickly told Eden.

'Roger that, Vadum, we're mo' Eden began before a massive shockwave shook the ship and throwing off the artificial gravity and cutting the power for a second.

'What was that?' Eden barked to no one in particular.

'EMP, we'll be down until Lillith is back online,' an outline to his right answered in a female voice.

'Status on Life Support?' Eden asked, again to no one in particular.

'Unknown, sir, we have no communication,' Merridew answered.

'Crew, hold on to something, when gravity comes back online, I want no one in the infirmary with an imprint of the floor on their face.'

Right on cue, the power came back online, making them all fall to the ground in a heap of limbs. They were all back to their stations in less than seven seconds and finding out exactly what had happened.

'Sangheili are still down, their AI's aren't as powerful as ours, ETA 34 seconds,' an Ensign called out over the din of status reports.

'The Market garden is gone, sir. The ship exploded, simple as that.'

'No, its not,' Eden replied in a hushed tone, looking out over the debris colliding with their ship. 'The loyal crew blew it up from the inside, overloaded the Fusion reactor.'

'Any escape pods?' Eden asked, still remaining logical despite the pressure he was being put under.

'That's a positive on that one, sir. One made it out just before the fighting began, he has been arrested by the Elites and put under high security in a cell.'

'Lets hope the Sangheili don't do anything stupid,' Eden hoped. This eventuality will have consequences, he thought to himself as he planned a response to every possible situation that would rise in the ensuing diplomatic debate. He only wished he could find a peaceful end, Humanity needed it.

  • 06.11.2010 7:01 AM PDT

Today iiiiis.... [insert day]

if you're looking at this, you should join Forever Forgers

why? because i'm a member.

well written, i have to say. a good read.

  • 06.11.2010 1:39 PM PDT