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This topic has moved here: Subject: The Diary of Catherine Halsey
  • Subject: The Diary of Catherine Halsey
Subject: The Diary of Catherine Halsey

Originally penned for Halo: Revolutions, here's the first part of the diary, post Onyx.


January 23rd 2553
It's been a little over three months since we left Kurt behind. But time has changed little of how I feel. Even now I expect a pin-prick of light to appear before swelling into a gloriously welcoming portal with his familiar silhouette on the other side, waving us through. But deep down, I know, we all know what's happened. Like so many others before, he sacrificed himself so that we could escape.

The remaining Spartans are coping remarkably well, considering their predicament. No combat, no enemy to engage and destroy, and no obvious means of escape would normally drive any highly trained and highly capable soldier mad. But Fred has taken over where Kurt left off. Both he and Chief Mendez have formalised a number of training scenarios and demanding fitness regimes to keep every one of them razor sharp. He is a tremendous leader, but in truth I'm proud of them all.

January 29th 2553
I should really make more of an effort to update this diary on a regular basis. But I'm all over the place at the moment. The beautiful spot that we arrived at three months ago provided us with everything we needed, but not everything I needed. There must be points of access to the deeper parts of the sphere somewhere, a control room or an access port for a terminal. The Forerunners were meticulous in their design of any structure, no matter the size. Redundant back-up access terminals were found everywhere on Alpha Halo, only the primary systems were isolated and singular in design. Because of this, I managed to convince Fred that a move of location was very much needed. (It's a pity really, they were just getting used to their new routine).

Our new home is located near a small wood, 12.74 kilometres from our original point of entry. I would state in which direction, but the magnetic interference from the G2 type dwarf star is preventing the use of any form of compass. Every point of our journey registered as north on the Mjolnir navigation (DMP4) software. Fortunately, the interference is not so severe as to inhibit the remaining equipment in our possession, including Jerrod. But despite this apparent silver lining, and much to my own personal dismay, Jerrod's power cell is minute in design and almost completely depleted. He scarcely has more than ninety-seven minutes of live usage left. But even on permanent stand-by, his reserve levels continue to drop. I estimate he will be incapable of user interface after 24 days. Any attempt to activate him will radically reduce this approximation. Losing Jerrod is something we can ill-afford.

Note: Observed an unusual blue flare emanating from the dwarf star.



February 2nd 2553
It was business as usual today. I had another look at the Stasis pods, if only to give comfort to Ash, Olivia and Mark. In truth there is very little I can do at the moment. I did ponder a possible solution after we first arrived which involved one of the fusion power cores from a Mjolnir suit, but this could possibly conclude with some very explosive results.

What I really need is access. Access to Forerunner technology. Without it, all I can do is twiddle my thumbs and drink water. I would give anything for a large cup of coffee.

For anyone, besides myself, that might eventually read this most of our food is the result of hunting. Olivia, Kelly and Mendez have developed quite a knack for it. Most of the food is avian in nature, with some odd-looking vegetables as a side. But all of us are hoping the sphere has other life, particularly if it comes covered in coffee beans. UNSC ration packs don't look so bad now.

February 3rd 2553
Today we all sat down and discussed our situation and progress, or the lack of it. I was frank about Katana, but Olivia, Ash and Mark seemed to take it pretty well. I would even go as far as to say they seemed more concerned over how I would cope with it. I have to admit, the Spartan III's are a little more difficult to read, but that's probably born from unfamiliarity. After all, I've known the class 0f 25 from childhood.

As for our predicament, we have several options: We can keep moving, following the course of the stream until it inevitably disappears, sit tight and hope some form of help arrives (which all of us very much doubt), or scout the area to a distance of five hundred kilometres. In the end we all opted for the latter. Tomorrow, Kelly and Olivia will be heading out on a bearing for anything that might help us they'll be gone for a week.

I'm not looking forward to the next seven days.

February 4th 2553
Kelly and Olivia left early this morning, although the term 'morning' is really quite irrelevant. The amount of light emitted by the star never changes enough to differentiate between days. Not only that but the passage of time within this Micro Dyson Sphere could be vastly different to the rest of the known universe. A year here could be merely seconds to those beyond the Dyson Sphere or, worse still, a great deal longer.

I digress. They both left quietly, whilst I was sleeping. Now I have an agonising seven days to wait until they return.

  • 10.06.2010 5:32 AM PDT

Keep going, could get very interesting :)...

Let me guess Halsey is going to go nuts (lol pun) and kill everyone because she starts to hallucinate coeffe :p?

  • 10.06.2010 2:24 PM PDT

Think before you post

I was wondering when someone was going to do this... You should scan the sketches she does and link them.

  • 10.06.2010 3:42 PM PDT

The Razor.

For the honour of the Mirratord.

Awesome diary, but why did you omit this from Revolutions? We need more stories, and this would have been perfect!

  • 10.08.2010 11:45 AM PDT

I wanted to write a piece that could stand alone and remain unaffected by future Halo releases.

I also felt the journal released with Reach would clash and the novels by Karen Traviss would destroy any possible credibility with the diary.

So I went with Do No Harm.

  • 10.08.2010 1:16 PM PDT

The Razor.

For the honour of the Mirratord.

That's a good point actually, I didn't think about the Traviss novels clashing with this.

But even so, it's great! I enjoyed reading it.

  • 10.08.2010 1:43 PM PDT