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Halo: The Covenent Falls






The Covenant elite Ttoa ‘M-bosee stood before the Prophets of Truth, Regret, and Mercy. The three High Prophets were majestic in their tall crowns, and always kept their gravity belts on. ‘M-bosee’s fellow elites had not been admitted. He had to speak on their behalf, as the leader of the Sescorheisa squad.

“What happened to the transmission?” Prophet Mercy asked him.

“It was cut off from the source. I believe that your hunters realized somehow that the human ship was intercepting it.” ‘M-bosee answered calmly.

“Why didn’t you destroy the human cruiser when it intercepted the transmission?” Regret asked him angrily.

“By the time the ship was in range, the transmission suddenly ended. I targeted the ship with my plasma turrets, but it jumped out system at the last moment. I was unable to follow it; my Slipspace reactor was damaged in the battle. I was able to pick up enough of the transmission to decipher the coordinates.” ‘M-bosee explained.

“What happened to the Forerunner artifact?” Truth asked the elite.

“I do not know. I had to leave the system as fast as I could. I was able to get around the planet, and there my crew and I fixed the Slipspace reactors enough to get us here. I’m amazed I even survived.” ‘M-bosee told him. “Why do you ask?”

“So far, we have not heard from the hunters who were tasked to retrieve the Forerunner artifact.” Mercy told him.

“I will take a fleet to the system, and decimate -” ‘M-bosee began.

“No! No. You will not take a fleet to the Sigma Octanus system.” Regret informed him.

“We have another task for you. Go to the coordinates from the transmission, and find whatever it is that the Ancients left there for us. The humans must not desecrate the Ancient’s artifacts with their filthy footsteps.” Truth said.

“However, you have proven that you cannot successfully command a fleet, so we have decided to remove you from command. You and your Sunghiesa will be half-commanders in the Lightbringing Hierarch. We will be sending one of our lower prophets with you. Now go with our blessing.”

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

The Lightbringing Hierarch left Slipspace near a gas giant known as Threshold. In between them and the planet, however, was a strange object of unknown origins. It was a ring, of huge proportions.

“So this is what the Ancients left here. One of the sacred rings.” Ship Master Obsi ‘Pacolee muttered to himself.

“Let us go down to the ring, and find out how to activate it.” Oporome Suchora, a lesser prophet, said.

“Prepare dropships. We are going down to the surface to find out how to activate the sacred ring.” ‘Pacolee said over the comm. to his half-commander Ttoa ‘M-bosee.

‘Pacolee looked up at the display, studying the ring that appeared in front of them. Suddenly, the prophet next to him screamed. ‘Pacolee looked hastily at the rest of the screens before him. When he saw what was on the aft camera, he froze.

“Cancel that order. Fire all plasma turrets at that alien ship.” ‘Pacolee had no idea where the human vessel had come from. Then he recognized the ship as the same one that had intercepted the transmission at Sigma Octanus. They must have acted on the coordinates relatively quickly, in order to have arrived so suddenly.

“Send out the seraph fighters. We don’t want the aliens desecrating the great ring.” ‘Pacolee scrutinized the hologram of the human ship. It had one MAC gun, and twenty-six Archer missile pods. If used in coordination, they could destroy the Covenant ship easily. A wave of plasma flew away from the Covenant ship. A moment later, a heavy round shot from the human ship, and a wave of rockets followed. The heavy MAC round impacted immediately and the Covenant ship’s shields fell to zero.

“Fools.” ‘Pacolee said to himself. “By the time the rockets hit, our shields will be back.”

The rockets hit, and the shields fell back to zero. At the same time, the wave of plasma torpedoes hit the human ship. It was burned in several places, and ‘Pacolee could see small holes in the ship.

Once again, the human ship fired a wave of rockets at the Covenant sent a wash of plasma.

“Focus all shields on the front of the ship.” ‘Pacolee ordered.

Just before the rockets hit, the humans fired a heavy round. The MAC round obliterated the Covenant’s shields, and before they could recharge the rockets struck.

“What’s the damage to our ship?” ‘Pacolee demanded.

“Sir, the forward levels have sustained heavy fire. Most of the upper levels are ablaze. There are scores of punctures in the outer plating. Venting atmosphere now.” ‘M-bosee called through the comm.

“Sir,” Ewsa ‘Dneolee, one of the Sescorheisa squad, announced, “the leader of the seraph fighters is calling for a retreat. The human’s point-defense system is wiping them out.”

“Order them to -” ‘Pacolee began.

“Load the dropships immediately.” The prophet stood next to the controls, and a hologram of a section of the ring floated in front of him. Small dots labeled “Human HEV Drop Pods” fell through the atmosphere. Behind them were larger dots labeled “Human Lifepods.” Just behind the lifepods were five figures labeled “Human Pelican Dropships.”

“Bring the seraphs above the ring.” The lesser Prophet ordered. “The humans are landing on Halo.”





The hunter slashed at Captain Dav Flamerock with its shield. Out of impulse, the Spartan ducked under it. For some reason, there was no armor in the center of the hunter’s chest. Dav plunged his fist into the Covenant soldier’s unnaturally tender skin. He reached around inside the screaming hunter’s chest, and pulled out the hunter’s heart.

Instantly, a wave of heat washed over Dav’s body. His vision blurred, and a room came into focus.

“Sorry about the quick thaw Spartans.” A man said as he popped the seal and opened the hatches of the Spartans’ cryo-capsules. “We are going to do an abbreviated diagnostic to make sure nothing went wrong with your cryo-sleep. Bring their bio-monitors online.”

The last command was given to a man in the hallway above them. It was quickly followed by the appearance of a green bar in the upper corner of Dav’s Heads-up Display.

A female voice was heard over the comm:

“This is Petra. The commander has made a combat error. All ODSTs are to evac in their HEV pods now. All pilots are to fly out in their Pelicans with either a Warthog LRV or a Scorpion-class MBT. The Spartans are to escort the pilots out. All other personnel are to evacuate in a life pod. Petra out.”

“All right, please take a quick walk around the cryo-bay and meet me at the shielding station.” The technician said.

The five Spartans, (as was normal on a ship this size) jogged around the cryo-bay. Dav’s skin stung, but that was because he had gone into cryo-sleep wearing his MJOLNIR battle armor. Normally, people had to go into cryo completely naked. But, being a Spartan, Dav was able to ignore the pain as he stopped next to the doorway-like shield-charging device.

“We’re going to do this snappy. Starting with the Captain, you’re going to charge your shields one-by-one. Once your shields are charged, you will go through that door and grab weapons. In the armory, you will also pick up your AI. Captain, you will pick up Petra at a pedestal near the other AIs.”

Dav stepped onto the circular platform, and promptly the two metal rods that were next to him began revolving. They started slow, but sped up. Dav felt a static pop, and a bar appeared above his health monitor. It slowly filled, and once it was full, the shield-charging device slowed to a stop. Dav stepped out of the device and strode through the door into the armory.

Once inside the armory, Dav grabbed a pair of standard-issue magnum pistols, a MA5B Assault Rifle, six MA5B clips, fifteen magnum clips, and a quartet of fragmentation grenades. He walked briskly to a pedestal on the other end of the room. Next to the pedestal were four data chips, with AI names written on them. Knowing that Petra was not one of them, he pressed a button on the pedestal.

A hologram of a young, attractive girl appeared on the pedestal. She was dressed in all white, and her left arm was completely mechanical. It had what looked like a metal snake wrapped around it.

“Hello Captain. Sleep well?” Petra asked lightly.

“No thanks to your driving, yes.” Dav replied.

“So you did miss me.” Petra concluded. “Sorting for a hardware transfer. There’s a backup AI on the system to take control of the point-defense system against their seraphs, and to do basic calculations.” Petra looked around the interior of the armory, as if she would never see it again. “Alright, you can pull me out.”

Dav tapped a few buttons on the pedestal, and Petra vanished. A moment later, a data disk identical to the other AI’s disks popped out of the pedestal. Dav removed it, and inserted it into the slot on the back of his MJOLNIR armor. As usual, he felt the cold sensation of mercury entering his mind as the AI joined him in his brain.

“Everything functioning within full parameters. Let’s show the Covenant who they’re dealing with.” Petra said. Her voice seemed to come from his mind and his helmet speakers simultaneously.

The last Spartan entered the room, grabbing a sniper rifle, an assault rifle, handfuls of clips, and three grenades. He jogged over and inserted his AI into its receptacle in his armor.

“Everyone ready to go?” Dav asked. Four acknowledgement lights winked green his HUD. “Move out.”

The five Spartans jogged towards the elevator to take them to the flight bay. As they passed through a door into the hallway that led to the elevator, Dav tripped over something.

He leapt up, and just as he brought his head up to look at the rest of the Spartans, a bright blue flash blinded him. He was thrown back a few meters, but then felt himself get sucked forwards. Dav hung in zero gravity, trying to get his vision to come back.

“Come in Ben, Rachel, anyone? Do you copy?” Dav called out to them.

“Save your breath. You’ll need it out here.” Petra explained to him. “The others are gone, dead. As you might have noticed, we’re out in space right now. I’ll alert Skyhunter and have her come pick us up.”

Stars appeared in Dav’s vision, and they were abruptly replaced by the ruined hull of a ship.

“Come in Skyhunter. This is Petra and the Captain. Do you read us? Over.” Petra called out.

“I read you Petra. Go ahead.” Skyhunter’s voice came through the speakers as Dav finished running a diagnostic on his armor. The shields system had been damaged; it had to be manually recharged. It also looked like the air-recycling mechanism was malfunctioning. He could only stay out here for another ten minutes or so.

“Skyhunter, we are the only Spartan left. You and all of the other pilots should leave now. We need a pickup ASAP. I’m sending you our coordinates.” Petra alerted her.

“Roger that, I’m on my way.” Skyhunter responded. “Skyhunter out.”

A few minutes passed, and then a pelican dropship barreled around the side of the ravaged hull of the cruiser. It flew up next to Dav, and he grabbed on. He swung himself around to the troop entryway as it hissed open explosively. Dav pulled himself into the ship, and the atmosphere door closed behind him. Air returned to the docking bay, and Dav deactivated the air-recycling mechanism. A quick test showed that it wouldn’t come back on.

Looks like I won’t be going outside anymore. He thought to himself.

“How you doing Captain?” Skyhunter’s voice came through the speaker above the door that led to the cockpit. “Come on it!”

Dav opened the door and entered the cockpit. It was full of people: one marine, a second lieutenant who Dav didn’t know, and Skyhunter, the pilot.

“Hey, you ready to kick some ugly alien a**?” The marine asked Dav. Dav glanced at the marine’s tags.

“Corporal Basri.” The Corporal struck a crisp salute. “I hate those damn lifepods. No control. I hitched a ride with Skyhunter here.”

“I know how you feel.” Dav told him. Then Dav leaned over the pilot and peered out of the view screen.

“Follow that lifepod.” He ordered Skyhunter. “We will need to pick up the people in it before the Covenant does.”

“Aye aye sir.” Skyhunter shifted her course to follow the lifepod.

“Petra, revert video feed from the aft cameras to my HUD. I want to see what’s happening between the two ships.” Dav said to Petra inside his helmet.

“You won’t like what you see.” Petra replied, uploading the video feed to Dav’s HUD.

The first thing Dav saw was a cloud of Covenant dropships following them. A couple of them fired plasma at the pelican, but the shots died away long before they reached the human dropship.

Behind the cloud of Y-shaped Covenant dropships, the Covenant cruiser charged its plasma turrets. It fired a volley, and just before the superheated plasma impacted with the ship, the human cruiser fired an MAC round. It punched through the Covenant ship’s shields and ripped through multiple decks. The plasma, however, did much more. It flew through the fore of the ship, and the entire front vanished. The bridge, the commander, everything. Without the bridge, commands couldn’t be sent to any part of the ship. The humans had lost their only way of leaving the system.

“I’m picking up a transmission,” the other lieutenant said, “it’s Major Dougal. Broadcasting.”

The Major’s voice came through the cockpit speakers.

“This is Major Andrew Dougal. All UNSC personnel are to rendezvous at sector Halo-050. Pelican pilots are to pick up any lifepod survivors, and bring them back here. Dougal out.”

Knowing that Major Dougal’s orders would have no effect on them, Dav turned his attention back to the video feed in his HUD. He was expecting the Covenant to spread out and follow all of the lifepods and pelicans so they could destroy them upon landing. He was, however, very surprised to see all of the Covenant dropships turn as one and fly away from their pelican. He was even more amazed when the pelican turned, and he saw the dropships were not following any of the pelicans or lifepods.

They must be forming a headquarters on the ring. Dav thought. It wasn’t a very good idea, when they could just follow the humans and blast them into oblivion upon landing.

“Alright, hang on. We’re entering the ring’s atmosphere.” Skyhunter declared.

The pelican shook violently, and Dav minimized the video feed to the corner of his HUD. The lifepod they were following glowed, and two of the stabilizing fins snapped off. Skyhunter slammed on the reverse thrusters as they exited the atmosphere layer and entered the air. She fought for control of the pelican, and managed to bring it out of the sharp dive it was experiencing.

The lifepod, however, had no such luck. It shot down like a rocket. The pilot of the lifepod was able to bring the nose up, so the lifepod slid thirty meters when it hit the ground.

Skyhunter’s pelican floated to the ground, its jets keeping it slightly above the ground. Skyhunter opened the atmosphere door as Dav and Corporal Basri left the cockpit. They trotted to the wreaked lifepod, and Dav wrenched the pod’s door off. Basri stepped inside. All of the occupants were slumped in their seats, and although most of them wore helmets, they all looked dead.

“Man, this sucks. They all died.” Basri complained.

“I’ve reverted the video feed back to the dropship.” Petra said to Dav. Then, through the external speakers of Dav’s armor, she said,

“Actually, I’ve picked up the bio-readings of the people in the lifepod. Most of them are actually still alive. I recommend loading them on the pelican and getting out of here before the Covenant arrives.”

The pair gathered bodies in silence, with Petra telling them each person’s status. Almost everyone was unconscious, but some, the pilot included, were dead.

As the pelican lifted off with all of the survivors plus Dav and Basri in the troop bay, Petra was heard through Dav’s external speakers:

“Banshee pair inbound at five o’clock.”

“I got ‘em.” Dav reported, grabbing his pistol pair and striding to the edge of the troop bay. He looked out, and saw two small blue dots in the distance. The dropship turned, and Dav lost sight of the banshees.

The pelican flew towards the general area of the banshees. It passed over another canyon, but this time the dropship dipped down into it.

“We’re picking up the survivors of another lifepod.” Skyhunter announced through the ship-wide speakers. Then, she made a secure channel with Dav.

“Once we hit the ground, load out and kick some banshee a**. Then we’ll haul our own asses back to Dougal’s ‘Alpha Base.’”

“Roger that.” Dav replied, closing the link.

The ship disappeared into the canyon, and it stopped just above the ground. Dav grabbed an M19 SSM Rocket Launcher and strode out of the dropship.

“I’m putting two nav points where I’m estimating the banshees will come over the edge. I’m also putting a countdown timer next to each one. Once the timer reaches zero, launch your rocket at that target. If my guesses are correct, then the rocket will impact the Covenant flier just as it comes over the lip of the cliff.” Petra explained, as two small red triangles appeared on Dav’s HUD with timers next to them. He targeted the one farther away from him, and took careful aim.

The moment the timer reached zero, Dav pulled the trigger. He dropped the launcher, and pulled out his MA5B Assault Rifle. He took careful aim at the other target, hoping that the rocket would obliterate the first banshee.

The rocket flew past the lip of the cliff, when it suddenly exploded. Dav tracked the wreak of the banshee with his eyes momentarily, until the other banshee cleared the cliff. He waited until the alien ship was in range, and he mashed down on the trigger. Bullets spewed from his rifle, and Dav stood his ground as the banshee fired back with its heavy weapon – a fuel rod cannon. Dav continued to fire until the last second, when he dived to the side. The explosion caused by the fuel rod cannon sent him flying a few extra meters, and lowered his shields by about a third. He spun around, targeted the banshee once again, and fired. The alien ship targeted Dav, and spewed plasma from its main plasma cannons. Dav stood his ground, watching the plasma wash over him, while firing at the Covenant ship.

Just as his shields were about to die, he leapt to the side again. Rolling, Dav fired whenever his gun was facing the sky. He couldn’t roll that fast, but he could roll faster than the banshee’s plasma could fly. He rolled for a few seconds, until he heard an explosion from the ground near him.

Dav returned to his feet, but before he could do anything else, he heard a soft pulse. The Spartan spun around, recognizing the sound. Sure enough, there stood a red-armored elite, holding an active energy sword. Behind the elite was the ruined hull of a wingless banshee. The alien slowly began to approach. Dav backed up at the same speed, slamming a fresh clip into his rifle. He loosened his left-hand pistol in its holster, and then got down on one knee and pulled the trigger of his assault rifle. The elite responded by jumping towards him, easily flying at least five meters. Bullets pinged off the elite’s shields, and the elite raised his sword.

Just before the elite hit the ground, Dav dove forwards, rolling underneath the alien. The elite couldn’t turn in time, as Dav spun around and whacked it in the back of the head. The elite doubled over, and the Spartan fired a trio of bullets into the Covenant’s shield system. The elite turned around, and Dav fired a pistol round into its face. It fell over dead, and its sword’s fail-saves activated. The blade vanished for eternity.

Dav leapt back onto the pelican, and called to Skyhunter:

“Alright, let’s get back to Alpha Base. We’ll probably need to pick up some more survivors.”





The Covenant dropship flew through the narrow canyon walls. Ahead of them, a patrol of banshees flew around, seemingly randomly. But ‘M-bosee knew better. They were guarding the Covenant’s headquarters on the ring. There would probably be many ghosts and wraiths patrolling it as well.

The dropship carefully avoided the scattered trees in the canyon. Although they looked exactly like normal trees, albeit a kind ‘M-bosee couldn’t name, when the dropship had grazed one, everyone in the ship had heard a screech as the top of the tree made a huge scratch in the hull. ‘M-bosee knew that Halo was a Forerunner structure, but he didn’t know why they needed to have metal trees.

A message scrawled across the holo-panel in front of the pilot, Erwi ‘Colamee. He punched in a response, verifying that this was the Sescorheisa Squad. A message immediately came back.

“We have clearance to land. That structure there is the headquarters.” ‘Colamee announced, pointing at a bunker-like structure that appeared as the dropship passed over the hill.

Just as ‘M-bosee had predicted, there were a trio of wraith mortar tanks facing outwards, cannons ready to fire. There were also half a dozen ghosts patrolling around the structure. The Forerunner bunker was connected with the cliff wall, and the roof was flat and battlemented. There were dropships docked on its roof, and a couple more docked nearby.

Erwi ‘Colamee set the dropship down next to the bunker. As the four black-clad elites and their white-clad leader exited the dropship, Obsi ‘Pacolee and a quartet of black elites exited the bunker. ‘Pacolee and his guards greeted ‘M-bosee and his squad.

“Greeting, Nakaina ‘M-bosee. I’m glad you were able to join us in our search for Halo’s control center.” ‘Pacolee said welcomingly.

“Of course. We wouldn’t want to be anywhere other than the location of the Great Journey’s beginning.” ‘M-bosee replied.

“Come inside. I have a task for you. And it does involve killing humans.” ‘Pacolee motioned for the other elites to follow him.

The entrance to the bunker was a doorway easily three meters high - almost high enough for a hunter to pass under at full height. There was a small antechamber, and then a ramp that led down a short distance. ‘Pacolee led the other elites down this ramp and into a deceptively large room.

It had a pillar in the center, which seemed to have a small platform at its center, and four support beams surrounding the platform. There were four more platforms at about the same level surrounding the central pillar, and although they seemed to be held up by some sort of anti-gravity device, there was a ramp that led up to each one. In addition, there were small platforms built into each wall, with what looked like minor grav lifts leading up to each one from the floor. Finally, there was a doorway of about the same size as this one next to the minor grav lifts. Strangely, they had some sort of shimmering green energy barrier in front of them.

“Interesting.” ‘M-bosee commented.

“Yes. It only get more intriguing. Please follow me.” ‘Pacolee ordered. The formality of it surprised ‘M-bosee; ‘Pacolee made them sound equal.

‘Pacolee led the other elites to one of the minor grav lifts. He entered it, and flew up to the platform. One-by-one, they all flew up the grav lift.

The first thing ‘M-bosee noticed upon reaching the platform was that there was a closed door next to him, facing away from the door they had entered by. Once everyone was on the platform, ‘Pacolee pressed two controls on a holopad beside the door, and it opened. Inside was nothing but a small table with a control panel at one end. ‘Pacolee, ‘M-bosee, and the rest of the Sescorheisa Squad entered the room, as ‘Pacolee’s guards stationed themselves outside the door.

‘Pacolee strode to the control panel, and pressed two buttons. The doors closed and locked.

“Now, the first thing you should notice is that.” ‘Pacolee said, pointing at the ceiling.

The ceiling was entirely glass, and there was a large room above them. There might have been a glass wall up there, but no one could see it clearly.

“What’s up there?” ‘M-bosee asked.

“We don’t know.” ‘Pacolee answered.

“Well why don’t you just go up there and find out?” Ewsa ‘Dneolee demanded.

“We can’t get up there.” ‘Pacolee responded calmly.

“What about the structure at the center of that room outside?” ‘M-bosee suggested.

“We are beginning to make a way up there.” ‘Pacolee explained. “But that is not incredibly important to you. What is important to you right now are the humans.” ‘Pacolee pressed a button on the control panel, and a hologram appeared above the table. It was of a mountainous region, similar to the one around them now. As the elites watched, human lifepods flew across the sky, and one of them crashed on the edge of the hologram. ‘Pacolee pressed a button, and the hologram vanished.

“We have the locations of the crash sites. You can hand-pick your team of troops to accompany you in your scourging of the pitiful humans. I’m sorry, but the elites are unable to help you. I have other jobs for them.” ‘Pacolee explained. “Go and kill the filthy humans. May the Ancients bless you.”

‘M-bosee and the Sescorheisa Squad left the room, and exited the way they had come. ‘M-bosee gathered eleven other Covenant forces: three Yar-Kai snipers, three Gag-Rak jackals, and five Ukgwoy grunts. They mounted the dropship, with Erwi ‘Colamee at the controls. The ship lifted off, and ‘Colamee directed the dropship towards the nearest lifepod’s crash site.

The Covenant ship flew over another cliff, when they saw the lifepod lying broken next to a strange chasm that was spanned by a narrow, rail-less bridge.

The dropship lowered next to the wreaked lifepod, and opened the hatches on one side. The three shielded jackals leapt out, and searched the interior of the lifepod. When they came out empty-handed a few moments later, ‘M-bosee knew that the humans were either gone or dead. The jackals leapt back on the dropship, and ‘Colamee lifted off.

He took the ship over the chasm, and yet another cliff. On the other side of this cliff was the next lifepod, but even without searching it the Covenant soldiers knew that there was no humans in it. They were hiding out on a strange structure that stood out in the open. It was easily defendable from ground troops, but from the air they never stood a chance.

There was a wall-like object in the center of the structure, that emitted a pulse of blue energy every now and then into the sky. ‘Colamee turned the ship so that the opened side faced the humans. Nene ‘Medamee, the sniper of the Sescorheisa Squad, stepped forward and raised her beam rifle.

The moment ‘Medamee fired, the three Yar-Kai jackals beside her chose and eliminated targets of their own.

The humans, having no sniper rifles and no rocket launchers between them, fled for the base of the structure, where there was a cave that ran underneath the structure. Seeing the humans running for the cave, ‘Colamee targeted the cave entrance with the shade gun attached to the dropship, and rained plasma on it. By the time the humans reached it, the cave entrance was melted shut. The three remaining humans turned to flee, but a trio of beam rifles found their targets.

The Covenant dropship flew to its next target, never having set down. They continued this process of sniping and hosing with shade fire through each lifepod crash site until there were only two left.

‘Colamee led the ship near the edge of a cliff. At the cliff’s base, at least a kilometer down, was some large unnamed body of water. There was a small river that went from the mountains behind the Covenant, and it ran down off this cliff. Next to both the cliff edge and the river was one of the lifepods. Behind that stood another structure like the first one ‘Colamee had seen. This time, there were two smaller structures whose purpose seemed to be the doorways into an underground passageway. After Nene ‘Medamee had made sure the humans were definitely not in the lifepod, using the scope on her beam rifle, ‘Colamee lowered the dropship in front of one of the entrances to the caves.

Ewsa ‘Dneolee, the support member of the Sescorheisa Squad, leapt off of the dropship. He was followed by the five grunts and the three Gag-Rak jackals. They entered the antechamber, where there was a ramp which led down into the underground chambers.

“You three, Jak, Kor, Ram, you overlap your shields and advance. Jagar, you stay to the side where you can easily shoot them down with your needler. Everyone else get behind the jackals.” ‘Dneolee hefted his dual plasma rifles. “Let’s go.”

The contingent of Covenant foot soldiers moved down the ramp. At its base was a low, but wide room. At its center was a block of metal whose exact purpose was unclear. Just behind that a chasm stretched across the room, and it was bridged on either side of the metal wall.

Sure enough, the humans stood on the other side of the chasm. There were maybe eight of them, with two assault rifle-bearing marines and about six tech officers who wielded only pistols. The humans spotted the jackal’s shields right away, and one of the marines yelled,

“Open fire!”

The rest of the humans obliged, and the bullets bounced off of the glowing green jackals shields. The trio of jackals responded by shooting back with their plasma pistols. The grunt named Jagar stepped out from behind Jak, and sprayed the humans with glowing purple needles. Simultaneously, ‘Dneolee stood up, and a marine reached for the something on his chest.

Just before the elite could hose the humans down with plasma fire, the marine yelled,

“Fire in the hole!” and a huge purple explosion was seen in the midst of the humans.

‘Dneolee leapt behind the metal wall, as a fragmentation grenade went off in front of the jackals. There were a couple of gunshots heard, and a pair of grunts, Jagar included, fell over. ‘Dneolee holstered his rifles and pulled a small metal rod out of his belt. The elites dashed around the other side of his cover, hoping to flank the humans. He heard the rat-tat-tat of an automatic weapon as he rounded the corner.

There were only two humans still alive, and they were both techies. One held two pistols, and the other wielded an assault rifle he had taken from a dead marine. They fired at the remaining two grunts, who were firing back randomly. ‘Dneolee dashed across the bridge as the two humans finished the scared grunts off. The elite activated his energy sword and brought it down on the head of the pistol-wielding human. The neatly bisected body fell to the ground and the other human, who was completely surprised, turned and fired wildly with the automatic weapon. Three rounds left the barrel, and it clicked: empty.

“Oh no, oh no!” The human tech officer screamed as the energy blade parted his mind from his heart.

‘Dneolee recovered a plasma grenade from a dead grunt and a frag grenade from a dead marine. There were no other useful weapons from either side, so the lone elite deactivated his sword and mounted the ramp once more.

“Where are the others?” ‘M-bosee asked ‘Dneolee as ‘Dneolee mounted the dropship.

“Dead.” The elite replied. Hearing ‘Dneolee’s remark, the pilot lifted off once again, keeping the sniper’s side open.

They flew inland, to where the final lifepod had crashed. The Covenant found the lifepod at the base of a rocky hill. A motion at the top of the hill served to alert the Covenant as to where the survivors were. ‘Colamee raised the dropship so he could see over the rocks the humans were using as cover. He then rotated the ship so the snipers could snipe the humans as usual.

The elite and jackals picked their targets and fired, taking out four humans. Just as ‘Colamee targeted the human’s general area with his shade, a contact appeared. He switched his view so he could see what the contact was, and saw a human pelican lifting off behind him at the base of the hill. Below it were two humans, but one was one of the legendary demons. Those strange humans with the shielded armor were responsible for almost as many deaths as the rest of the human foot soldiers put together.

Suddenly, ‘Colamee heard four distant cracks. He heard Nene ‘Medamee cry out in pain and quickly closed the hatch. The demon knelt, raising a sniper rifle. At first, ‘Colamee ignored the demon, and turned to hose down the survivors of the lifepod crash. They were boarding the pelican, and as ‘Colamee targeted it with his shade; four white streaks came from the demon. A message scrolled across the screen in front of ‘Colamee.

“Sescorheisa, grab onto something. The shade is offline, and we’re leaving.” ‘Colamee didn’t even wait for any acknowledgement as he flew the dropship over a cliff and out of sight.

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

Dav targeted the area just above the shade’s antigrav field. He had absolutely no idea if this would work, but the ship wasn’t moving, and it was targeting Skyhunter’s pelican. He pulled the trigger four times in quick succession. The first round didn’t do a thing. The second and third caused the blue energy above the barrels of the shade to flicker, and the final round punched something vital. The barrel of the shade fell as its energy failed to keep it connected to the ship.

“Boo-yah!” He said to himself, reloading the sniper rifle. The Covenant dropship immediately turned and fled.

“All right Skyhunter; let’s get these survivors back to base.” Petra said through a secure channel. “It’s too bad about the others.” She added.

Dav made a mental note to ask the survivor with the sniper rifle how he had been able to kill all four of the Covenant snipers so effectively as he leapt back aboard the pelican.




Colamee set the dropship down where they had landed before. The five elites of the Sescorheisa Squad emerged alone from the dropship. ‘M-bosee and ‘Dneolee supported a badly wounded ‘Medamee, who still clutched her beam rifle. Once they were all standing outside the dropship, ‘M-bosee transferred the burden of ‘Medamee onto Anda ‘Aebolee. The elite took ‘Medamee’s weight easily, after wielding a fuel rod gun for so long.

“You three take ‘Medamee to the medic’s station. I must meet with Ship Master ‘Pacolee now. Meet me here at the end of this cycle.” ‘M-bosee commanded.

He watched as the other elites helped ‘Medamee to the medical section. He had always hated the medics.

When ‘M-bosee had been only a minor elite, he fought against the humans for the first time. Leading the humans had been one of the demons, who didn’t have shields at the time, but the monster had gotten into hand-to-hand combat with him. Not being high-ranked enough to wield a sword, ‘M-bosee had fought, whacking the human in the head with his plasma rifle. The human had dodged the rifle, and punched him in the stomach. The blow was much stronger than a human’s punch should have been, and it finished off ‘M-bosee’s already damaged shields.

Before the elite was able to swing back, the demon brought its other fist across his face, knocking him out.

‘M-bosee had woken to intense pain. Apparently, an elite had saved him, and had brought him to the medics. They thought that he would stay unconscious during the operation, because he had been shot multiple times by the demon but survived. He had woken up during the most painful part of the operation.

Presently, ‘M-bosee strode to the door to the interior of the Forerunner structure. He descended the ramp into the large chamber, and marveled at the changes made.

Next to the pillar in the center of the room, someone had set up a small grav lift. From the platform on the center of that pillar, however, there was a different grav lift – one that definitely did not originate from a Covenant crate. Over at one of the strange doorways with the shimmering green barriers, a pair of elites worked with something located just above the doorway.

‘M-bosee watched them work as he approached the grav lift that would take him to the meeting room that ‘Pacolee had first shown him and his squad. The pair of elites appeared to be tampering with the energy barrier itself, via a pair of objects just above the barrier. They hadn’t yet deactivated the barrier, and by their expressions, they didn’t seem to be making progress.

‘M-bosee entered the lift, and once he landed on the doorstep the door opened. There were two Spec-ops elites guarding the entrance, and ‘Pacolee stood in the doorway.

“‘M-bosee.” ‘Pacolee greeted him. “I see your raid was successful.”

“Mostly.” ‘M-bosee replied. The two elites entered the meeting room, and ‘Pacolee shut the door. “A demon managed to stop us from destroying the final lifepod survivors. They escaped in a Pelican dropship.”

“That is unfortunate, but we are working very successfully here. As you have seen, we have activated one of the Ancient’s grav lifts, and I am about to send a squad of Spec-ops elites and grunts up there to investigate what is up there.” ‘Pacolee smiled. “We have also located what the Holy Scriptures refer to as the ‘Silent Cartographer.’ We were about to send a squad there, since that is the only way we will be able to locate Halo’s control center.”

“My squad and I shall lead them.” ‘M-bosee announced. “Just give them enough time to finish healing ‘Medamee. I will need all of my squad for this.”

“Very well. I will tell the troops to wait.” ‘Pacolee said. “May the Forerunners bless you.”

“Thank you Ship Master.” ‘M-bosee turned, left, and ‘Pacolee returned to his work.

Near the end of the day, ‘Medamee left the medical ward and boarded the heavily laden dropship. Having heard that ‘Medamee was just finishing her time with the medics, ‘M-bosee had loaded everyone into the four dropships.

The force ‘Medamee led to the Silent Cartographer consisted of: Five elite pilots, the Sunghiesa Squad, five Yar-Kai snipers, fifteen Gag-Rak jackals, four hunters, and thirty-four grunts. The vehicles brought were one Wraith Mortar Tank and two ghosts, along with a pair of banshees to guard the dropships. Two of the elite pilots flew the banshees.

‘Colamee and the other pilots brought the four dropships up around the ring towards the Cartographer.

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

1020 Hours, September 31, 2547 (Military Time) / Alpha Base, Halo, Harbinger System

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

“Major, we’ve found something new in the Covenant’s strategy.”

“Good job Petra. Come meet me in my office with Lieutenant Parsons.” The Major replied.

“Yes sir.” Petra opened a new channel with Parsons. “Come in Lt. Parsons.”

“This is Parsons, go ahead.”

“Meet us at the Major’s office now. He wants to talk to us.”

“Roger that. I’m on my way.”

“Now we should get going. We don’t want to be late.” Petra said to Dav Flamerock, having closed the channel with Lt. Parsons.

Dav left his living quarters, nothing more than a small room with a bed and some scattered weapons and equipment. He ascended the ramp that had been built into the side of the Forerunner structure that the humans used as Alpha Base. It was identical to the one ‘M-bosee had seen while he had been killing the human survivors, except there were no underground passages.

Dav reached the top of the structure and approached the central pillar where the periodic burst of energy came from. The pillar was hollow, square, and had a man-sized hole in two of the sides, which allowed passage through the hollow pillar. Next to the opening was a small screen that the humans had placed there. It read:

:28

:27

:26

Seeing this Dav backpedaled and hid behind someone else’s living quarters.

The Major had been wise to make the hole in the pillar the only way to access his office and quarters. If there were hostiles present, he could shut and lock the door, and while the Covenant attempted to knock down the door, the blast of energy would go off, killing anyone above it.

There was a soft blast, and Dav saw the blue energy streaking through the sky. He stepped out from behind his cover, and Lt. Parsons approached.

Together, they entered the pillar just as Major Dougal opened the door. They entered, and Dougal hastily shut the door. The pulse went off every ninety seconds.

“So Petra, what is it?” Dougal asked, motioning for them to sit down.

The three of them sat down, and Dav got a good look at the Lieutenant. He was the man from Skyhunter’s dropship; he had been able to get a ride with Skyhunter because he was with the Office of Naval Intelligence, or ONI. Somehow, Dav figured that Parsons would be able to learn a lot of information useful to ONI on this ring.

“As you might not have known, four Covenant dropships passed by Alpha Base an hour ago.” Petra laughed to herself when she saw the men’s shocked reactions. “They weren’t close enough to be a threat, but close enough to be picked up by our sensors. They also didn’t seem to target us, or notice us at all. I wasn’t able to discern their target location, but I did gain enough information to send a fake message to their HQ. They responded like I told them to, and I found out their target destination.

“The Covenant is sending troops to something they call the ‘Silent Cartographer.’ It’s a map room that will lead you to any part of Halo. I have the coordinates of the Cartographer. The reason the Covenant are after it is because they believe that Halo is some kind of super weapon, and they’re searching for the control center of it. If they find it -” Major Dougal interrupted Petra’s “it” with one of his own.

“It, then we’re all screwed. Lieutenant, Captain, you’re leading an assault of the Control Room. We will need you to stop by the Cartographer to find out where it is, but we must beat the Covenant to it. I’ll give you three of our pelicans and one Warthog LRV. You can fill the pelicans with 60 troops, but only a third of them can be ODSTs. Alright Petra, you got any more intel for us on the Cartographer?”

“It’s on a forested island. I’ll plug the coordinates into whatever dropship I’m in, and that’ll lead us to the map room.” Petra replied.

“Good work. Now move out.” Dougal ordered.

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

“Land ho!” Skyhunter called to the marines and Spartan in the back. Dav chuckled at the comment, and someone else said,

“Good one, Skyhunter!”

They had been flying over water for at least an hour and a half, and that comment made them all feel old-fashioned. Secretly, each of them were preparing themselves for the coming fight.

According to Petra, the entrance to the Cartographer was directly above the beach, and as the pelican came closer, Petra’s knowledge was confirmed. Not only was there a platform with a doorway into the cliff stationed above the beach, but there was also a Covenant dropship hovering just above the platform. No Covenant foot soldiers could be seen, but as the Pelicans drew nearer, the dropship targeted them and opened fire.

“Captain, get in here!” Skyhunter hailed him as the pelicans scattered, dodging plasma fire. Dav was in the cockpit in a flash, and standing behind Skyhunter.

“Petra, are there any other entrances into the Cartographer?” Skyhunter asked.

“No, just here.” Petra replied immediately.

“Ma’am! Hunters!” Lt. Parsons cried from his position in the co-pilot’s seat. Both Skyhunter and Dav jerked their heads to the view screen.

From their new position after dodging the hose of plasma fire from the dropship, Skyhunter, Parsons, and Dav could now see the two hunters guarding the entrance to the Silent Cartographer. They had been screened by the dropship.

“Skyhunter, tell all of the ships to head around the port side of the island.” Dav ordered.

“Yes sir.” Skyhunter brought up a comm. channel with the other two pelicans. “This is Pelican-419. Do you read me?”

“I read you Skyhunter.” They both replied.

“Come around the port side of the island. The Captain has something planned for the Covenant.” Skyhunter ordered.

“Yes ma’am!” Pelican-507 replied, turning to follow Pelican-419 around.

“Skyhunter, we are engaged. You may want to have the Captain cancel his order when we’re done.” The other Pelican, Pelican-322, responded.

“Aft cameras!” Skyhunter ordered.

“Yes ma’am.” Parsons replied, bringing the camera feed to the view screen.

Pelican-507 was quite close behind them, but what grabbed the attention of Skyhunter, Dav, and Parsons was the fight behind Pelican-507. Pelican-322 flew around the Covenant dropship, which sprayed plasma back in return. There were a couple of burns on the pelican, but the human dropship was evading most of the plasma. It flew in an arc above the Covenant ship, and lowered down so it was practically sitting on the Covenant ship. Two M19-SSM rockets flew from the back hatch of the pelican, blowing a pair of holes in the top of the Covenant dropship. A moment later, the second wave of rockets detonated inside the cockpit. The Covenant ship fell, crashing into the beach below.

The hunters suddenly launched huge balls of plasma at Pelican-322, but before they impacted, Skyhunter’s pelican turned, and the cameras showed only ocean.

“Come in Pelican-322!” Skyhunter cried over the comm. Twin explosions were heard, and Pelican-322 replied, “The coast is clear. All threats neutralized. Pelican-322 out.”

“Fore cameras.” Skyhunter ordered, bringing the ship around. “I’m bringing the ship around.”

Pelican-419 spun around, as Lt. Parsons brought up the forward cameras. The hunters were all over the place, but most of their bodies and equipment lay where they had been standing. There were bright scratches in the platform, which led to Pelican-322. The dropship faced away from the dead hunters, and lay upright on the platform. At first, Skyhunter couldn’t see any physical damage, but then noticed the crater on the underside of the port wing. The hatch was open, and two marines stood in the opening with rocket launchers on their shoulders. As Skyhunter brought her pelican down, the marines and ODSTs in Pelican-322 climbed out. The heavy weapons marines reloaded and clipped two spare rocket packs to each of their belts. The marines of Pelican-419 leapt out, led by Dav and Lt. Parsons.

“Not a lot of us will fit in there, I recommend a 10 man squad.” Petra said into Dav’s ear.

“Lieutenant, Cpl Basri, Sergeants, you four, come with me. We’re going in. Everyone else, stay here. Don’t let anything in.” Dav quickly dished out orders to the 60 soldiers around him. “Set up the warthog, you can use it as a stationary gun turret. Strike Team Beta, come with me. We’re going in.”

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

The strike team strode into the cliff, passed a small room, then descended a ramp into a hallway. They turned left, and found themselves facing a small room with a Covenant crate in the middle and a ramp that led up to a ledge on the right. Dav entered the room, and heard a grunt squeal at the sound of his footsteps.

“Stay here. I’ll get it.” Dav stepped around the crate, and saw a lone grunt, pointing a needler at him. He quickly ducked behind the crate, as four needles flew past him and detonated harmlessly against a wall. After waiting a moment, he ducked back around, pulling down on the trigger, and strafing to the left. The grunt fired a few needles at him before the bullets from his assault rifle killed it. The few needles lowered his shields a fraction, and he motioned for the other soldiers to enter.

“You four, head up that ramp. The rest of you, come with me. We’re going through that door.” Two sergeants and two marines, together armed with an assault rifle, a sniper rifle, and two battle rifles, began advancing up the ramp, as Dav led the rest of the squad to a door underneath the ledge.

Dav stepped through the door, and was instantly hit by a large plasma bolt and a few smaller ones. They drained his shields instantly and he could feel burns on his arms and chest. Dav ducked back behind the door, hiding, as he manually recharged his shields. The marines and last sergeant, led by Cpl Basri, charged through the door. Once the last marine had passed through, Dav stepped into the room, followed by Lt. Parsons. There was a pair of jackals, one dead, one fighting the marines. Cpl Basri was retreating, limping slightly due to plasma burns on his legs. Dav charged the last jackal, spraying it with bullets from his assault rifle. The jackal shifted it’s shield to defend against Dav, and Parsons and a marine shot it with their pistol and assault rifle.

The marines appeared at the ledge above them, and after seeing that there were no more jackals to kill, three of them jumped down.

“Three men down already?” Dav asked. There was a sergeant and a marine lying next to his feet, and one of the sergeants hadn’t come back from the ledge above.

“Yeah…” The marine with the sniper rifle replied wistfully. Parsons recovered one of the jackal’s plasma pistols, and the other marines refilled their ammo.

“Let’s go.” Dav led them down a ramp to another door. This time more careful, Dav stepped through the door. When no enemies presented themselves, he motioned for the other six squad members to come through.

They stood in a hallway that branched off on either side, and there appeared to be a room that these hallways surrounded.

“Alright, Basri, Parsons, you’re with me. The rest of you, go down that way.” Dav motioned to the right, and then led Lt. Parsons and Cpl Basri down the left. Just as they turned the corner, they heard the sounds of a firefight in the other hallway, although they saw no hostiles. Dav led the two other men down the hallway, and turned into the room on their right. There was a wall in between them and the other side, but it didn’t reach all the way across the room. Down at the other end of the room, where the mid-room wall ended, was another jackal. Dav charged it, guns blazing, letting the plasma wash over his shields. Once he reached the jackal, he grabbed the alien’s firing arm, lifted it up, and sprayed bullets into the soft, unprotected torso.

Just as the jackal died, he heard a grenade go off, and turning into the corner, saw another jackal under fire from the other marines. He sprayed its unprotected side with assault rifle bullets, and it died. He looked over at the other marines, seeing one of them dead in the doorway.

“We need to be more careful. We can’t lose people this fast.” Dav said to the other marines, after one of them restocked his assault rifle clips with those of his dead ally and Dav had recharged his shields. The marines followed the Spartan down the next ramp, to another door.

After waiting for a moment, Dav leapt through the door, pointing his rifle in every direction at once. Seeing no hostiles, the Spartan strode onto the ledge. There was a ramp that led to a lower level a few meters ahead of him, and to his right was a small alcove filled with Covenant crates. Lt. Parsons entered the alcove, searching for a more fully charged plasma pistol. After a moment, he emerged, holding a plasma rifle and a strange, semi-transparent pyramidal object with a small blue sphere inside.

“What’s that?” Someone asked Parsons.

“I’ve seen one of these before. This is a temporary camouflage device. It only works with an elite’s armor, though, so only a Spartan can use it.” The Lieutenant replied.

“Interesting.” Dav inspected the cloaking device. “How does it work?”

“Let me explain, while I install it.” Parsons opened the pyramid and took out the blue sphere. After a quick explanation and installation, Dav vanished from sight, as the camouflage took effect.

“I’ll go scout ahead. I’ll hail you on the radio when my camo runs out, and then just find me. I’ll come back if there’s any forks in the hallways.” Dav’s voice came from the air around the marines.

He set off down the ramp, trying to go as fast as he could and still stay quiet. He reached the bottom of the ramp, and saw a grunt standing idly by a Covenant crate. The crate was right next to the edge of the abyss, but there was enough room for him to edge around the crate. He slipped around the crate, and with careful precision pushed the crate over onto the grunt, killing it instantly. He the proceeded onwards, going around a few corners, always staying near the abyss, and found himself staring at two doors. He took the left-hand door, and slipped through. There were no Covenant in this room, but there was a projector in the center of it, and a door on the other side of the room.

“This is the map room. Quick, let’s activate it and find the control center.” Petra said to him.

“No.” Dav replied. I’m getting the others first.” Suddenly, he could see his camouflage fading away. “Come in Strike Team Beta. This is Captain Dav Flamerock.”

“We hear you Captain. Your camo gone?” Lt. Parsons answered him.

“Yes, and I found the map room. Come down the ramp, and just walk along the abyss until you see me.” Dav told them.

A minute later, the marines and Lieutenant rounded the corner. They approached him.

“Alright, Dav. Let’s find out where the control center is now!” Petra sounded a little frustrated that Dav had waited for his marine friends to meet him.

“Don’t worry. We’re doing that now Petra.” Dav reassured her. They strode through the door, and Dav pressed a button on the holopanel in the center of the room. A hologram of the ring appeared before them.

“The control center seems to be in some kind of temple.” Petra explained. “Strange place to put such a significant installation.”

Suddenly, the door opposite them opened, and five Covenant soldiers stepped into the room. Dav leapt through the hologram of Halo to get to the jackals and grunts. As he flew through the air, the jackal sniper fired at him, missing. The grunts stepped out from behind the other jackal’s shields, and fired at their targets. Dav sprayed the jackal sniper with assault rifle bullets, taking it down. Simultaneously, the grunts died under a volley of pistol shots and sniper bullets. One of the jackals was charging its plasma pistol, and the other fired at the marine sniper. To take out the jackals, Dav spun his leg up, kicking one in the back, sending it flying to the ground in front of Cpl Basri. He spun his leg back, kicking the other jackal over just as it released its overcharged plasma bolt at the marine in front of it. He sprayed the last of the bullets from his clip onto the jackal’s back, and reloaded his rifle.

Lieutenant Parsons was burned from plasma bolts, and he was currently reloading his pistol. Basri was still burned from a previous firefight, and the sergeant was in relatively fine condition. Dav grabbed a clip from the dead marine and slammed it into place in his assault rifle.

“Take as much ammunition clips as you can carry. We know the location of the control center. Now it’s time to race those alien bastards there.”






Pelican-419 led the other pelican into the canyon where the control room resided. The two dropships flew over the bridge spanning the canyon, headed for the top of the pyramid which was at one end of the canyon. The pyramid had a platform above the door, but the platform was covered by a dome, so the pelicans couldn’t land there.

“Come in Pelican-507.” Petra hailed the other pelican over the comm. channel. Pelican-322 had left with the wounded to get fixed up and get the soldiers healed.

“This is Pelican-507. Where are we going to land, Petra?” The other pelican responded.

“We’re going to drop off at the doormat. Just back into the opening in front of the hangar doors.” Petra replied.

“Roger that.” The pilot of Pelican-507 answered.

Pelican-419 flew up to the top of the pyramid, and spun around. It slowly backed into the top of the pyramid, and Skyhunter opened the hatch. Dav led the Lieutenant and the other marines out the back, and Skyhunter flew up out to let Pelican-507 drop off its marines. Once they were all outside the pelicans, Skyhunter called,

“Any signs of the Covenant?”

The great hangar door that led into the control room was open, and there was a huge hallway that turned to the right. There seemed to be no place for anything to hide in the hallway.

“I don’t see any. I’m amazed we beat them here from the Cartographer.” Dav replied.

“Um… Sir?” A marine called cautiously. “You might want to see this.”

Dav trotted over, Parsons following him. There was a small contingent of Covenant crates, hidden behind where the hangar door slid back into the wall. They were not organized well, and one of them had fallen over.

“Petra, do you suppose that these were placed here in a hurry?” Dav asked the AI.

“I don’t know. If the Covenant have already been here, I wonder why they haven’t activated it. I think we should get in there fast, and maybe we can use it against the Covenant.” Petra replied.

“I like that idea.” Dav said. “Alright! Let’s get into the control room! Come on!”

He led the 40 marines through the hallway. It was huge, but relatively short. They turned the corner, and saw a hundred or so meters away a great room. It had a big hologram of Halo in its center, and had a narrow walkway that led out to the hologram. Just at the end of the walkway was a holopanel. There were no Covenant in the area, but above the holopanel was a hologram of Forerunner script.

Dav and the marines strode swiftly down the hallway until they reached the holopanel. They could only fit about four people abreast on the Spartan looked at the holopanel in front of him, searching for the best place to insert Petra’s AI chip.

“Try that terminal there.” Petra said as Dav looked over the holopanel.

He reached in back of his neck and pulled out Petra’s AI chip. He inserted the chip into an opening in the holopanel, and the chip disappeared as if it had gone into a normal control panel. A giant Petra appeared among the Forerunner symbols that made up their script.

“This is amazing! The knowledge… so much, so fast!” Petra reveled in the rush of knowledge from the control center.

“Alright Petra, let’s focus. Halo, weapon. How do we use this ring against the Covenant?” Dav asked her calmly.

“Right.” Petra thought a moment, then muttered to herself:

“‘Installation-04 can be activated by reunifying the Index with the Core –’”

“Wait, say that again?” Dav interrupted the AI.

“‘Installation-04 can be activated by reunifying the Index with the Core.’” Petra read it again.

“Where is the Index? We need to get it before the Covenant does.” Lt. Parsons asked.

“Hang on…” Petra thought for a moment. Her figure was suddenly frozen by fear. “‘The Index is in the Library. However, access is restricted, and it is prone to have Flood outbreaks.’”

“Petra,” Dav said slowly, “what is the Flood?”

“Gp. Get back to Alpha Base now.” Petra’s voice was urgent.

“Not without you!” Dav reached for the holopanel.

“There’s no time – ” Petra was almost pleading now. “Alright. I’ll explain on the way.”




‘M-bosee knew something was wrong the moment he saw the banshees that were guarding the Vigilant Finder. They were firing on something below, and there were many people firing back from the ground. A fuel rod gun went off, and a banshee fell. Continued fire from multiple plasma rifles downed another banshee. As 'M-bosee and his squad flew nearer, a figure leapt absurdly high, grabbed onto the wing of a banshee, pulled itself up, and pulled the elite pilot out of his seat. The elite was shot from the sky by the fighters below. The commandeered banshee turned on its fellows and shot one down. The last free banshee spun around, and charged the commandeered banshee. The banshees fired plasma at each other, burning off chunks of each flyer. They collided with a huge green fuel rod explosion, and the banshee husks fell to the ground.

“No!” 'M-bosee slammed the cockpit wall with his fist.

“Sir?” ‘Colamee spoke up hesitantly. 'M-bosee turned to look at the hologram of what was around the dropship. “What is that?”

“The Flood…” 'M-bosee muttered. There were legions of small figures scuttling around the dropships at the Vigilant Finder. 'M-bosee cursed, then he realized something.

“Set down the dropships just behind this cliff. Tell the banshee pilots to fall back. The Flood can’t see us.”

Once ‘Colamee had set the dropship down, 'M-bosee strode out, taking a beam rifle with him.

'M-bosee zoomed in to watch what the Flood were doing. His stomach turned as he watched what had once been an elite. Whatever the Flood infection was like, it had mutated its host into a zombie-like monster. The former elite had tentacles growing from its wrists, and its head had been knocked back, replaced by active antennae. The Flood combat form had a disfigured torso, with a bloated chest and a shriveled abdomen. Although its form was made for combat, the Flood seemed to repairing a Covenant dropship. What scared 'M-bosee was the fact that it knew what it was doing.

Another Flood form waddled through 'M-bosee’s line of vision. This one resembled an armless, headless, grunt. The grunt’s torso was swollen absurdly, and it waddled along past the former elite. The swollen creature was trailed by small, round fleshy balls that bobbed along on little tentacles.

'M-bosee zoomed back out and returned to the dropship.

“Close the hatch, get the dropships airborne.” 'M-bosee called to ‘Colamee. “We can’t let them off this ring. Sent the other two dropships around the sides, order them to glass the dropships with shade fire.”

'M-bosee could hear ‘Colamee giving the orders to the other dropship pilots as he entered the cockpit. ‘Colamee lifted off with the other dropships, and flew out above the Flood-infested Covenant headquarters. The combat forms immediately saw them, turned, and began firing with whatever plasma weapons they happened to have. Little of the plasma bolts actually hit, and did effectively no damage to the ship. The dropship’s shade opened fire on the grounded dropships, melting their cockpits and engines.

‘Colamee opened the side hatch so that Nene ‘Medamee could target the Flood forms with her beam rifle. She picked one and shot. The laser beam hit, and passed right through, leaving a small hole in the combat form’s side. Frustrated, ‘Medamee fired again, twice in quick succession. The beam rifle overheated, but when the second beam hit the Flood in the chest, it collapsed. After waiting a few seconds for her rifle to cool down, ‘Medamee targeted a new Flood’s chest and fired. When the combat form didn’t die, she shot its chest a second time, laying it low and overheating her rifle again.

“'M-bosee!” ‘Medamee called. “Tell the Yar-Kai that the Flood fighters can’t be efficiently slain by beam rifles!”

The two other dropships suddenly appeared, hosing the Flood-repaired dropships as well. The Flood themselves, however, ignored the newcomers.