This is a community built project. Although I wrote the first chapter, the events that occured were made by the amazing Halo community. It is their brilliant imagination that literally forced me to bring this project into being. And as a tribute to those brilliant minds, this is where my story begins. They create the dialogues and scenarios for their own amusement and I add in the fillers to bring the story to life. I hope you enjoy this chapter and there will most definitely be more to come.
WARNING: ALL EVENTS TAKING PLACE ARE AU AND WILL NOT BE FOLLOWING THE COMPLETE EVENTS OF HALO'S EXTENDED UNIVERSE AFTER HALO 3. HALO 5 DOESN'T EXIST! MAYBE... BUT THERE WILL BE SOME ASPECTS REMOVED AND ADDED IN TO PROVIDE DIFFERENT STORY EXPERIENCE.
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Nyra opened her eyes to the rays of sunlight pouring into her bedroom. She would yawned and slipped out of bed, motioning to her servant to cover her. A female servant walked over and slowly draped the silk robes onto her.
She smiled. "Thank you." And walked to the balcony. The servant nodded and bowed before taking a step back, her head down the entire time.
High Queen Nyra Verdear of the Sangheili Empire put her hands on the balcony railings and looked out at the massive First City of Sanghelios. The sun rose over the horizon and glowed in a radiance only known on Sanghelios, brightening up every Sangheili and human its light touched. The skyscrapers towered in the distance as she peered from her Palace high in the mountainside that overlooked her beautiful city. A group of Banshee's flew past as the pilots of the Banshee's made their way over the streets of the city, their skills and training shown in an agility only known to the pilots of the Elites.
She watched as the Banshee's flew past and smiled. She loved to see the Banshees fly in formation, watching the glowing trail of repulsors that it left behind. There were few things that made the High Queen solemn and yet, the only sight she could currently regret was the Fleet hovering over her city.
The High Charity Defense Fleet.
A fleet of massive proportions.
A fleet built from the ruins.
A fleet built out of necessity.
The Covenant War Fleet hovered over the First City of Sanghelios, consisting of over five hundred warships all bristling with pulse lasers, plasma lances, Type-27 Phantoms, Type-25 Spirits, Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicles aka Ghosts, Type-36 "Scarab" Ultra-Heavy Siege Platforms, Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft a.k.a. Banshee, the new experimental Elite Mechanized Defense System a.k.a. Mechas, and millions of Unggoy, Kig-Yar, and Sangheili. A few hundred troops of Lekgolo were also stationed at their respective posts. CCS-class Battlecruisers, CRS-class Light Cruisers, CSO-class supercarrier, CAR-class Storm Cutters, CPV-class Heavy Destroyers, ORS-class heavy cruiser, DDS-class carrier, ORS-class Heavy Cruiser, and RCS class Armored Cruisers gave sight to over six hundred Covenant Starships all dedicated for one purpose.
War.
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1300 Hours, February 12, 2567 (Military Calendar)
New Carthage
Backwater planet in UNSC territory
Space. The Final Frontier. These are the Voyages of the Warship Florence. Its sad life mission: to explore strange new ways of having fun, to seek out new ways to stop being bored. To boldly Go where no-
"WILL YOU STOP THAT, Harper! I SWEAR BY MY MOTHER THAT IF YOU DO NOT SHUT UP I WILL HAUL YOUR ASS ALL TO THE CLEANERS AND MAKE YOU SCRUB THOSE TOILETS IF YOU DON'T BE QUIET!"
"Geez calm down, Cap. Just trying make it less boring."
"We're SAILORS! We're here to defend! Not to play around!"
"Riiiiiight Cause the Covies are going to care about this backwater planet of ou-"
A beep sounded from the tactical station. Harper swiveled his chair and checked to see what had caused the noise. "Probes are picking up slipspace anomalies." He paused as the telemetry started to come in. "Oh great. Massive asteroid seems to have entered slipspace and is headed in our general direction."
The Captain frowned. "Combine it with our database of known Covenant fleet formations."
"You don't think-"
"I don't want to think. I want to know."
A few buttons and beeps later, Harper found no fleet formation or ships recognizable from the incoming telemetry. "Well, false alarm. But the asteroid will be passing us by at any moment."
Suddenly seven ships appeared on scanners. The sensors could barely register the massive ship that had appeared alongside the several smaller ships that hung near it. The bridge crew of the Halberd-class Destroyer Florence, had their jaws dropped nearly all the way to the floor as they recognized the Sangheili Empire's symbols painted all over their hulls.
"Uh...uhhd,...d.f...It….It can't be!"
"Send a signal to command! NOW!"
But nobody moved. Everyone was frozen in their spot at the sight of the enemy fleet.
"TEEEEEN HUT!"
Everyone snapped to attention as their training course terror plowed into their memories, bringing them back to reality. "Everyone back to your senses!"
The Captain thumbed the intercom. "All hands to battle stations! All hands to battle stations! This is not a drill! I repeat this is not a drill! The Sangheili Empire is here! All crews to battle stations!"
Alarms blared and red lights flashed as the Sangheili Imperial fleet began to move towards them. The small UNSC fleet in orbit above the planet consisted of four Paris-class frigates, two Halberd-class destroyers and three Charon-class light frigates. The orbital station, however, was still being built. Evacuation teams started to ferry the engineers in the station to safe distances away from the incoming death.
"MAC cannons primed. Targets are now in firing range."
"Lock on to the nearest cruiser and open fire."
The ship shuddered as the twin MAC guns released their 6,000 ton uranium depleted slugs from the bow of the ship. The rest of the fleet did the same, combining their firepower to take out the smaller ships.
"Sir, the Nolan has begun transmitting the distress call. Expected to hear from command in two minutes."
Sensors went crazy as it picked up several more slipspace ruptures.
"Contact! Aft side! There is an enemy fleet directly behind us! They have us flanked! Identifying! Oh…" Harper's eyes went wide with fear. "Thirty two Covenant warships…...….CSO…...six…"
"Evasive maneuvers!"
The CSO Covenant Supercarriers fired. Their plasma lances tore through the hulls of six of the UNSC ships causing them to become inoperable. The Captain of the Florence could do nothing but watch as six of the UNSC's finest went up in metal liquid , fire, and smoke.
"Sir, the Nolan's transmission was cut off!"
"Initiate Emergency jump! Contact the others and tell them to do the same. It was a trap!"
The Sangheili fleet fired its plasma torpedoes at the remainder of the UNSC fleet. Although they were slow, the torpedoes were always devastating. They splashed over the remaining Paris Frigate Hollow and Charon Cruiser Unity. The engines were the first to go, while the rest of the hull followed suite. The Florence had one of it's engines burn off just before a slipspace rupture opened and swallowed the Halberd Destroyer. Nine UNSC ships had defended the planet.
Only one made it out alive.
And the Sangheili were not done yet. Thousands of dropships billowed from their hangars as they made their way to their intended destination. The only city of New Carthage. Their mission: Capture the planet.
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**City of New Carthage**
It had been forty-two minutes since the invasion had started and already most of the city had been overrun by Sangheili, Unggoy, and Kig-Yar all blasting bolts of plasma at the defending human Marines and Rangers. The couple of Anti-aircraft batteries had done a good job in clearing many of the drop ships that had landed in the city but there had been too many to eliminate all of them. It had been the proper decision on the Sangheili's part since the UNSC mortars would have eaten them for breakfast if they had marched into the city without the proper shielding. Now they were pretty much useless with the buildings in the way and without proper eyes on the enemy. The two Scorpion tank divisions had been destroyed in the first wave of Mechas but the second wave had slowed everything down to a crawl. Now the Sangheili were slowly gaining ground as they crept onto the last defensive fortification in the city which was, surprisingly, the New Carthage Space port.
The only difference with the Sangheili were that they were not targeting the civilians who were fleeing from their buildings while the UNSC fought for control. The UNSC were, however, fighting a losing battle. The experimental Elite Mechas tore through the buildings without breaking a sweat and unloaded their wrist plasma launchers into the crowds of men and women hunkered behind hastily created defenses of ruined signs and destroyed vehicles.
A woman dressed in UNSC Marine gear dashed to the tower where the command post for the AA guns lay. There was a calmness in her eyes as she slung her assault rifle onto her back and quickly located a Lieutenant sitting on a chair with his head in his hands and pad on the side. "Lieutenant!"
The man looked up at the woman. "Y-yes?"
"Where is your commanding officer?"
"I am the commanding officer. Captain Reynolds was at his house w- wh- when the attack came." The young Ranger got up to face his speaker when he realized he was eye level to her. Weird. "He-he hasn't come in yet."
"Lieutenant, I need you to listen carefully. You are in command. Now I need your help! I want those AA batteries focused on the city."
"Wait wait wait. Am I to presume that you want to use the 'Anti-Aircraft' batteries to attack a ground division? It won't work!" he exclaimed.
The woman grabbed the front of his armor and roughly pulled him into her face. "My name is Captain Rachel Bean and as your superior officer I order you to face those damn cannons at those Elite mechanized war machines before our people get stomped even more! Get your head in the game, soldier! We are at war. Use your brains!" She literally screamed it into room, causing him and everyone around her to jolt at attention.
"But they won't work! The guns have two much velocity. They are a smaller version of the gauss cannons for crying out loud."
"Then reduce speed by siphoning off power. Recalculate the trajectory. That's what you people are good at! We don't need to hit a spaceship. We need to take out a Mech. And a whole lot of them at that. Forget Collateral damage. Is buildings worth more or lives?!"
Rachel let go of the Lieutenant. "Well?"
The Lieutenant blinked rapidly before nodding. "You heard her." he told to no one in particular, but everyone in the room understood.
Within a minute, the AA guns in the Space port were facing the enemy at weird angles. Their rate of fire was decreased but even a 'slow' high caliber bullet was enough to put a dent in the Mechas. Several bullets would destroy the Mecha and kill the Sangheili pilot controlling. Mechas everywhere fell to the onslaught of the powerful AA batteries. If you're wondering why a Space port has AA batteries, it's because they were used to make sure unauthorized departures didn't make it off the planet..
The Lieutenant's eyes opened wide with amazement. His arms shot into the air and he shouted, "It worked!"
Rachel rolled her eyes. Of course it would work, she thought. Before she ran out the control room, however, she caught a glimpse of a green armored individual with a long barreled sniper rifle. A Spartan. As she leaned in closer to the window, she saw him run to the mortar battlements, wave his hands around as if it were giving orders and then saw him run vertically up the side of the highest point in the Space port. Rachel understood what he was doing. He was being a spotter for the mortars and identifying key points in the enemy's armor division. But even that would take precise calculations. No doubt the Spartan had some….. Interesting brain cells to use in this fight.
She moved away and ran as fast as she possibly could out of the building. The activation of the AA guns wasn't a complete victory as the Sangheili Empire would realize that the AA guns were the real threat and begin to focus fire on them. Then they would lose their only advantage. No. Those guns were only there to buy time. New Carthage would have to be evacuated.
And she would be damned if anyone was left behind.
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Explosions shook the earth as the Imperial forces pushed their way into the city, slowly taking over ground the UNSC controlled.
Over the radio, a voice command came in. "Fire in the hole!"
Several Fragmentation Grenades flew over the makeshift barricades and landed at the feet of the Imperial troops. A second later, explosions and screams rippled through the air as the entire southern side of the Covenant line was splattered with Sangheili, Unggoy, and Kig-Yar remains. In response, the Covenant threw their own barrage of grenades. Their devastating plasma grenades sailed through the air and planted themselves in or near the UNSC troops blockades.
The result…..well…...too bloody to actually describe without throwing up.
With victory close at hand, the Sangheili warriors gave one last bellow and charged at the broken lines. As soon as they did, two mortar rounds landed on two seperate Sangheili warriors overloading their personal shields and instantly killing them. Mortar rounds continued to rain down on the Imperial forces. BUt the Sangheili staggered forward with their pride held high above their head and energy swords gripped in their hands. Rachel ran and slid into a cover just as a needle barrage slammed into the wall where she had been a second ago. The solider she shared the fortification, a half burnt civilian car, looked at her.
Rachel shouted. "How does it look?!"
"HOW DOES IT BLOODY WELL LOOK LIKE!"
The Colonel peeked his head out and fired a round at an enemy that faltered in it's steps. Rachel joined him with her assault rifle and unloaded the rest of her clip into the Jackal that had lost its footing on a piece of a metal pipe sticking out of the ground. With a guttural squack, the Jackal fell and the duo ducked back into cover.
"We have to fall back! There's too many of them!" He said. Another explosion sounded as another mortar round hit, throwing Imperial soldiers into the air.
"The civilians are almost on board. We're about to call the retreat!" Rachel replied back.
The Colonel shook his head. "It's not that. The UNSC should have been here by now! The nearest reinforcement detachment is barely half an hour away. Unless the Covenant came at us with a fleet that took out Reach, the UNSC should have landed troops already!"
Rachel said nothing as she slapped fresh clip into her rifle. This fact had also dawned on her a few minutes before she ordered the AA guns to fire but there was nothing she could do. It wasn't in her hands. Plus they couldn't get a signal out because the communication satellites and towers had been the first to be targeted by the Covenant Forces. "We can't dwell on that right now. We have to make sure that everyone gets on those ships and out of this system." She peeked her head out at took a few potshots at a few stragglers. "Call the retreat!"
At that moment two Mechas burst through the buildings, their mechanized arms twirling around to aim with their wrist launchers. The Colonel cursed and yelled into his headset. "We need the AA support on the South side! Repeat. AA support! All units on the southern front, Fall Back!"
The AA guns turned towards the new enemy target but before they could get a shot, the two Mechas' arms started to change. In each hand was a small six petaled metal flower with a hole in the middle that started to glow green.
Twin beams of superheated plasma straight at the guns and four AA turrets melted into globs of metal, their only proper heavy weapon line on the south destroyed. Uh oh, was all Rachel could think as the enemy war units switched back to their normal weapons and fired bursts of plasma rounds into the retreating UNSC forces. The rest of the Sangheili Imperial Forces fired, some even risked getting out of cover in order to get a better shot. Warthogs that had been put on standby, came shooting out, and picking up the retreating Marines and Rangers. Some took heavy fire and exploded. Others were able to save many as they retreated. Rachel continued to fire, expending all of her ammo once again, trying to give everyone as much time as possible. before she also turned and started to run. Gatling guns fired, grenades exploded, mortar rounds landed with pinpoint accuracy, and Sangheili warriors charged with their energy swords ablaze.
Rachel took another clip from her utility belt and targeted the nearest enemy, a Sangheili about to skewer a Ranger. Nobody had seen the woman being grabbed by the throat. Nobody but Rachel. She winced. She didn't want to kill a Sangheili but…..she still fired. The first few rounds caught it's hand and the inertia from the bullets caused the warrior to narrowly miss its prey. The next forty rounds of her MA5F started to go straight to the head. The warrior dropped the Ranger and roared at Rachel, sword held high over his head. Rachel continued to fire, her rifle jerking violently as she kept up her barrage. The Ranger got up and ran for her life without even a glance. Rachel didn't mind. She would have done the same.
The Sangheili charged.
Oh hell why not, she thought, as she also charged, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrggggghhhhhhhhhh"
The Sangheili roared in response. It seemed ridiculous that they were going head on head with each other but Rachel already had a plan on how to deal with him. She had dealt with Sangheili during the First Covenant War before and she knew how to deal with them even now.
Screeeeeeeech Kerplunk
One moment her opponent was in front of her, the next it was replaced with metal. The Sangheili flew into the air as the Warthog appeared out of nowhere and rammed into him, throwing the poor soul into the air. He landed in a heap around ten meters away. Rachel looked at the driver with a "what the heck?" look. "He was mine!" she exclaimed.
"Sorry, precious." The driver flashed an idiotic smile at her. "Now hop on."
"Incoming!" the back gunner said, as she turned the massive turret in the back and fired.
Rachel looked at the attacker just as the Grunt threw a plasma grenade into the vehicle. The grenade landed in the driver seat.
Time slowed to a crawl. The driver shouted. "Hanna, get out!" He floored the accelerator as Hanna, the gunner, jumped out from behind. Rachel also dove out to the side as the Warthog exploded a few seconds later. A sharp ringing sensation erupted in her head and she was vaguely aware of the chunck of metal flying around her. Miracolously, none of them hit her. Disoriented, Rachel looked at the vehicle. It was burning and the driver was still in the seat, dead. Rachel felt another piece of her die. Another life consumed by the Covenant. No. It was two lives. The Blood dripping from the side of her helmet confirmed it. Her eyes were wide open and she wasn't moving. Hanna didn't make it. The girl had jumped and slipped onto a piece of concrete. Rachel shook her head to clear the dizziness and she got up to run. A few feet from where she had fallen she was rewarded with a searing pain. A lucky needle round had found it way to her and she screamed and collapsed as it lodged into her thigh.
She couldn't hear anything. She couldn't see anything. All she could do was feel. All she could even comprehend was the fact that her leg was injured and she couldn't move. She did the one thing her training had taught her. Focus on the pain.
And focus she did.
The pain dissipated a little, not enough for her to move but enough to think clearly. First things first. She was hurt. No shit, Sherlock. Second, her head was hurting. Ok maybe doing a checklist wa a bad idea. Rachel arched her head up to see the UNSC soldiers running. Some were fighting back to retrieve the wounded but nothing else was an option. Then she saw something. No. It was more like she felt someone approaching her. A dark figure in the smoke and daylight. It knelt down and examined her while she stared back. A few seconds passed before she realized the dark figure was a Sangheili. She hesitated. Again. But that hesitation lasted a microsecond as her hand whipped out her pistol and fired point blank into the Sangheili Guardsman's face.
The Sangheili roared and yanked the pistol from her grasp, throwing it aside. Four more Sangheili Guardsmen flanked him, bearing proper Kig-Yar shields. They all looked at the knelt Sangheili who, Rachel assumed, was their Captain.
"She has spirit." he said, finally.
One of the Guardsman interjected. "A human with the spirit of a Sangheili warrior, you mean."
"Indeed. But one that hesitated to kill me. I wonder why." The Captain smiled and his face turned into utter shock as something whizzed in and lodged itself in the Captain's chest. The Sangheili coughed up blood immediately becoming aware of his surroundings. With a flash, he scooped Rachel up and started to sprint away from the battlefield, he Guardsmen in tow. Rachel didn't even have time to react as her thoughts became confused at the weirdness of the situation. Suddenly, her radio crackled to life and a heavy controlled metallic voice came flowing through.
"To the Dead Sangheili carrying the marine. Mind dropping her so I don't have to fix you up more?
The Sangheili Captain growled before snatching up the radio and rasped out one word. It was the one human the Covenant had feared for all their years of war.
"Demon."
"Yes. Come to confess your sins?" Another bullet sliced through the air, narrowly missing the Sangheili's head.
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BAM!
BAM!
Two sniper shots rang out followed by two more shots as each round buried itself in the head of a Sangheili or Kig-Yar. Petty Officer Spartan Psycho-1537 calmly reloaded his rifle in one swift movement. He aligned his next shot and fired, taking out the Grunt in the gunner turret of the Wraith tank. Into his radio, he said, "Target at three-two five, elevation zero-zero-nine, shift in axis by twelve."
"Roger."
Three shells later, the tank exploded and the shrapnel sent the soldiers behind the tank scrambling for cover. Psycho took them out one by one in quick succession. But it wouldn't be enough. The UNSC was still losing ground. Any proper tactician could see it. Bullet after Bullet, magazine after magazine, kill after kill and yet the Imperial Forces never ceased. They would have to retreat. The UNSC couldn't defend against the might of the Sangheili Imperial Forces. New Carthage was lost.
He scanned the horizon to make sure thgere weren't any soldiers in enemy territory. He noticed the Warthog explode and saw the two Marines survive. No only one survived. The other wasn't moving. A group of Sangheili approached the surviving Marine and one of them knelt her. Without hesitation, he switched his aim to the lead Sangheili, calmed his nerves and fired. His aim was true but the Sangheili still remained standing. Not only that but the Leader grabbed the Marine and took off. He activated his communicator and spoke, "To the Dead Sangheili carrying the marine. Mind dropping her so I don't have to fix you up more?"
A voice responded back. "Demon."
"Yes. Come to confess your sins?" he replied, firing another shot. Miss.
"You're a very lucky brute to have survived my shots."
"You as well Demon, not many get the jump on me."
"Hah." Spartan 1537 aligned his shot with the head of the Sangheili, next to the female Marine's body. "I'm giving you one-to-ninety-nine chance that you will survive my next bullet."
"If destiny wills it so." The Sangheili replied back. "Then I will take it gladly."
Oh that cockly bastard is dead now, the Spartan thought, Say goodnight, pal.
The Marine's voice came over the radio. "Watch it! I'm still-."
He fired.
Hehehehe. A cliffhanger? Yes.
The rest of the characters will come in due time And believe me. There are a lot of characters.
Credits:
Turkey_Tessa (Sangheili Captain/Server Admin and Main Scenario creator)
Hiryu Kumori (Spartan 1537 Psycho/Hallelujah)
