This is one of the many stories that I've had brewing in my head for years, so i figured it was high time to get it out.
The story takes place in the post-war era of the Halo Universe and follows groups of survivors from a battle that took place above a newly discovered planet. What they find on the planet is not quite what they expected. Along the way they'll make freinds, enimies, and who knows perhaps fall in love.
This story is rated M for a reason, so if you don't enjoy blood, guts, rape, sex, violence in all shapes and sizes and possibly the use of every cuss word known to man... I respectfully ask for you to leave.
On the other hand if you do then pull up a chair and get comfy, we're about to get started. Please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times and make sure you're strapped in tight.
"Exiting Slipspace in 3...2...1..."
The UNSC Foreshadow reappeared as it transitioned from slipspace to real-space, closely followed by three ships flanking it; 2 Frigates and a Heavy Cruiser. The massive UNSC Super Carrier gunned its engines and began to accelerate towards a blue nearby planet.
"Transition to normal space successful, we have arrived in the Haven system." announced the ships AI, Cornelia.
On the bridge of the UNSC Foreshadow, another voice spoke out; "Adjust heading for Spherite Cornelia, and then set us up for a close orbit," The man that had spoke was the ships Captain; Markwell. He was sitting on the command chair in the center of the bridge, closely watching the view port and leaned forward, "Let's see this 'find of the century' then."
Cornelia flickered on her holographic pedestal for a moment, before promptly confirming his orders; "Aye sir, adjusting heading 3.1 by 1.9, Set heading and Speed. Course set for orbit of Planet Spherite."
At this, the captain stood up and walked over to a terminal manned by an ensign. Leaning over him he looked at the console.
"What about our escort?" Asked the Captain, walking back to his chair and nodding in satisfaction to the ensigns work.
"The Cruiser Falujia is following our path in and our orbit closely, and the Frigates are moving out to scout the other side of Spherite and its two moons as you ordered them to." Replied Cornelia, straightening her holographic dress and looking herself over.
"Excellent, inform the Falujia that we are expected to rendezvous with the Elites here at 2100 hours. Afterwords we will coordinate our efforts to start planning the landing operations and expeditions," Markwell logged into his personal terminal and then looked back at Cornelia, "Send me the reports from the two Frigates as soon as they're done please Cornelia."
"Shall I notify you when I detect the Sangheili's ships?" Asked the AI whilst sending the files to the Captains terminal. A bleep sounded throughout the bridge, showing that the files had been received.
"Yes, at once," Captain Markwell paused, staring out of the veiwport as if transfixed by the black emptiness of space before him. "Also, keep the MAC cannon charged at 50%. I don't want anything getting the jump on us." He said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Are we expecting company?" Asked the AI curiously, simultaneously carrying out literally thousands of tasks.
"Just a feeling. ONI informed me before we left that the mission may have been leaked, so I'm not taking any chances. I don't want anything endangering my crew or my ship." Markwell said, standing up and walking over to the nearest weapons control, manned by senior ensign.
In the bottom decks of the UNSC Foreshadow, people ran to and fro as the crew and its passengers went about their assigned duties and many awoke from the long slumber of cryo sleep. They were all excitedly grabbing their equipment, checking work stations and looking forward to the new tasks that were being appointed, even with the aftereffects of their ice nap.
The exploration of a planet whose occupants were humans but who did not originate from Earth, as well as many other unknown humanoid species was a task to look forward to in all possible ways by the many "specialists" that had come along on this mission.
To compliment this expedition was a large group of scientists, ranging from biologists to nuclear physicists, and from botanical scientists to climatologists. All were present along with the needed equipment and resources required for such an endeavor as this, all of them being the leading experts in their field. They were also being awoken from their 1.5 month sleep in cryo and were now chatting excitedly with each other, trading theories and discussing their part in the whole operation.
They were there to study, that much was agreed upon. The powers that be in the UNSC had made it a priority to avoid contact with the citizens of Spherite where possible and to cause as little disturbance as possible. They weren't their to conquer or enslave, like the Eurpoeans had done to the Natives of the New World in the 15th century. No, they were their to study and learn, nothing more.
Captain Markwell and the scientists where charged with upholding this at all costs. While it was made a big issue and impressed upon them all, it was not a cause for concern for anyone.
As the ship drew closer to Spherite, inside the enormous carrier, many large hangers held a full range of countless drones and reconnaissance craft. All of them now being prepared. Along with Pelicans, Albatrosses and other manner of landing craft, they would have ensure safe passage to the surface of this fascinating planet.
The motor pool too was busy, preparing the vehicles provided for this mission and making sure they where all running at peak condition. Whole fleets of Warthogs were pulled out of their storage, ready to take on whatever terrain Spherite had.
In the middle decks of the ship were the 6 galleys and the cooks of which were busily preparing a large meal for everyone onboard because of the lack of nourishment from the cryo sleep.
In the Barracks of the ship a full 2 Battalions of Marines and 2 Company's of ODST's where sitting around talking, fighting, working out and gambling. Each awaiting orders, with their weapons standing ready, cleaned thoroughly and lubed up just right, with their gear sitting in neat order all packed and ready to move in a moments notice.
On board the UNSC Frigate 'The Wall', such tasks where running smoothly as well, while the ship continued its reconnaissance of the far side of the planet, confirming that no threats lay hidden in wait on the 'dark side' or beyond.
In the troop bay a group of ODST Corporals lounged near one of the viewports looking down onto the planet below as they circled it. "So Corporal Floyd, you hear that there's humans down there? One's that didn't come from Earth?" The Corporal glanced around at the Lance Corporal next to him before responding.
"That's what I heard too. I wonder where they came from if not earth?"
A man with a Corporal rank on his chest plate turned away from the porthole, "Who knows? Maybe God decided to put us on more than one world."
"Is that your professional opinion Corporal Aldo?" laughed another Lance Corporal.
"They're probably from that time Seth whored himself out to all of Luna. This is where they dumped all of his little hell spawn cause they where so horrifically hideous and retarded."
"They'd still look better than your ugly ass Treven." Said a tall muscular man holding the rank of Gunnery Sergeant. The group laughed before turning around at the sound of a door behind them opening.
The ODST's saluted as their commander walked on deck, but before they could even finish snapping to attention the Captain said in a tired voice, "At ease," And turned to face his ODST's. "Everybody here? Where's Carmela?" He asked looking around.
The Gunny stepped forward, "She's working with one of the techs on a glitch detected in the HEV system sir." Replied Gunny Sergeant Jamal.
"Alright make sure you relay all this too her when she's done. I just got word from Captain Sutherland that we'll be dropping in to help with an Albatross drone to run recon on a Forerunner structure as soon as the operation begins. So grab your gear and load it up into 06 in the Hanger. Gunny, grab a LAAV and a Transport Warthog from the Motor pool and load it up as well. Briefing for this will occur at 2000 hours, everybody will be there."
"Aye sir." All the ODST's present snapped to attention and walked off to find their equipment and backpacks.
"Gunny, a word if you please." The Captain said to the Gunnery Sergeant.
The two senior ranking members of the squad hung back with the Captain as the rest moved off and out the door, laughing and joking as they did.
"Captain Southrend also informed me that ONI has assigned a Spartan to help with the usual clearing of the Forerunner structures on the planet, but he's on the Cruiser Falujia so he'll be dropping in separately."
"Do they know if any Flood are on the planet?" Gunny asked, a frown crossing his face and an old nervous tick showing up in his arm.
"They're not taking any chances. From what I've heard this is standard operating procedure for any Forerunner artifacts or sites found," stated Captain Ellis, turning to stare out the porthole before continuing, "Can't say I blame them really. After everything that happened, all we did on 00, anything is preferable to another outbreak."
Gunny joined him saying staring out the porthole silently, "I still have nightmares. That we're back there in that god foresaken vally on the big 00 or Kenya, fighting those abominations."
A tremor ran through him and Ellis clapped him on the shoulder. Gunny always did an amazing job at hiding his PTS, but he knew he could always talk to Ellis. They had been in the Corps together sense the very first day.
Ellis sighed. "Yeah. I do to."
A mixed group of scientists, Marines, ODSTs and Naval staff sat cramped in one of the briefing rooms onboard the Foreshadow, eagerly awaiting the first live feed from a drone Captain Markwell had deployed to the surface of Spherite. The drone was to do a preliminary recon of the terrain, atmosphere and to take a peek at what they could expect once they landed, mainly from Spherite's inhabitants.
Markwell had seen no harm in simply sending a drone out to take a quick look, so when the Scientists had asked him he had agreed. After all, he was just as curious as everybody else about the word his ship flew in orbit over.
"Sir, there appears to be a slight problem with the drone." Cornelia announced, over the speakers of the briefing room as there was no room for her on the holographic display, due to a rather large marine that was sitting on it. After he'd asked her permission of course. This drew everyone's attention.
"What kind of problem?" Markwell asked, frowning. "Spherite appears to be producing a jamming signal, spanning most of the planet. Fortunentally, our communications equitment onboard our ship is more than sufficient to cut through it. However we will need to find a way to disable it if we want our people on the ground to be able to talk to us and each other." The AI answered.
The Captain nodded. "Understood, that will have to be a top priority once things get underway. Prepare a report on possible locations when we're done here."
"Yes sir. Receiving signal from drone now Captain, it has cleared the lower atmosphere and is currently flying steady along its predesignated flight path." Announced Cornelia.
Markwell spoke up above the chatter of excitment that popped up at the announcement and said, "Put it on screen Cornelia, lets see what we've got."
On the rooms holographic breifing table an image of flowing mountains covered in green trees came on screen, the drone flying past them. As the viewers watched, the unmanned ariel vehicle broke the crest of a particularly tall mountain, and they suddenly saw, nestled in the valley below, a large village that looked like something straight out of the Dark Ages. It was even complete with a large castle that sat on a small mountains slope.
The scientists began talking amongst themselves, practically jumping around with excitement.
"Holy shit," Said a the large marine that was sitting on Cornelia's pedestal, "Its like something out of a movie."
"Think there's a princess in that castle?" Said his friend, mischievously from beside him.
"No god damned princess would ever even fucking look at your ugly ass Bradley." A voice shouted from the other side of the talkative room, whom had to be their Sergeant.
"Cornelia, any way that we can get a closer look down there?" Asked the Captain, himself very curious, choosing to ignore a Marines comment of 'thats what she said.' Almost instantly, the magnification on the camera increased, giving them a crystal clear HD image of a street bustling with activity.
Fascinated, Captain Markwell saw street vendors offering their goods to people passing by, wooden carts full of supplies, goods, or food going up and down the street being pulled by people or else strange looking creatures that he couldn't quite make out.
There where what looked like guards in polished metal armor standing post or else patrolling the streets below in pairs. But what caught his attention the most was the multitude to colors of the people down below, he wasn't quite sure but a lot of them looked like they had traits of animals even.
But before he could discern what they were exactly, static washed over the drones camera, and by the time it was gone a a dark storm cloud blocked their view as the UAV passed through it. More static began to appear, casuing the smart AI controlling the drone to sigh in apperent frustration. "The jamming signal is causing some unusual interference... I'm afraid that's all for now Captain, there's a bad storm up ahead of the drone, as you saw." The AI announced, much to the displeasure of those gathered.
"Very well, turning off that jamming signal will need to be our top priority. return the drone to the ship. Send copies of the data collected and the video to those who need it. The Sangheili should be arriving within the next couple of hours and then we can get started. Be sure to inform me as soon as you make contact with them." Commanded the Captain, getting up and starting to head back to the Bridge.
"Yes Captain." replied the AI. The group that had gathered followed him out of the briefing room, chatting excitedly.
"Did anybody else see that hooker in that back ally? I fucking told you we were gonna get laid on this op!" A Marine sniper said to his fellows as they headed back to the barracks, his friends laughing along with him and whole heartily hoping he was right.
On board the UNSC Cruiser; Falujia, Dante, also known as Spartan-506 made his way through the ship to the bridge, on his way to report to Captain Holgan. As he walked through the Cruisers corridors, it's personnel made it a clear goal to stay out of his way, as a 7ft Spartan clad in Mjolnir Mk VII armor was quite an intimidating site and was usually accompanied by several dead bodies.
He stepped into an elevator that would take him to the ships bridge and as the doors closed his thoughts turned back to his team, wishing that they where here with him.
Dante was one of the many Spartan IV's that the UNSC had produced after the War with the Covenant ended just over 11 years ago. When the war was over and the smoke had cleared, the UNSC realized that if it wanted to survive the next few decades, they needed Spartans.
The reasoning behind this was because of the threat of the flood possibly returning, as it was too great and feared by all, even with the destruction of the Gravemind and Installation 00. Then there was the matter of the Covenant Loyalists, that still posed a threat even with the Elites hammering away at their numbers. And on top of all that, there was the fear of the insurrection popping up again.
With Humanity's population cleaved in half, they simply could not afford to take any risks.
And so the Spartan Project was re-opened and began accepting conscripts who matched the nesisary criteria. They were given a whole Planet to train in secrecy on, which was dubbed Sparta, for obvious reasons.
Dante had been asked to join after both his parents had been killed during the war. After agreeing, he was taken from the orphanage at the age of 5 years old and had never looked back. More than a few of his fellow Spartans had come from similar situations, their families killed during the war just as his had been, but the vast majority were adults that had either volunteered or enlisted from other branches.. For 11 years he had been trained, instructed and disciplined until they where old enough for the augmentation processes.
The augments had been a horrifically painful experience, and it taken Dante over a week to recover. But he had emerged a Spartan.
Since then, he had been through many raids and skirmishes. Killing Covenant Loyalists, Insurrectionists and even groups of pirates. All of which tried, and failed, to take advantage of the UNSC's fractured state. Some of their more recent conflicts had been the UNSC hunting down and clearing out Forerunner ruins, for fear of the Flood, stopping the loyalists from using almost mythical weapons against them and always keeping watch for any possible activity that might somehow activate the Halo array.
So far they had been lucky. Ever sense the battle of the Ark, the flood had never re-emerged as a threat. A fact for which 506 was greatful, as he had fought the flood in simulations and even that had been something out of a nightmare. He had no desire to encounter them for real.
He stopped his musings as the elevator opened out onto the bridge of the Heavy Cruiser. Here Naval personell did the same thing and carefully avoided getting in his way.
The bridges holotank for the ships AI was lit up with a man in a bowler hat and a cane, as he stepped onto the bridge it turned to face him.
"He's waiting for you in his office Spartan." Announced the AI in a thick British accent. Dante nodded and headed towards the Captains office and upon reaching it, he knocked sharply three times.
"Enter." A voice called from inside the room.
Dante walked in and snapped to a crisp Salute.
"Spartan-506 reporting as ordered sir."
Captain Holgan looked up from his desk, "At ease Spartan, relax."
Dante snapped to parade rest and stood in front of the captains desk as he sighed, "I guess relax isn't in you vocabulary," the Captain said as he chuckled to himself before continuing.
"Did you read the report on the surface we received from the Foreshadow?" He asked, standing up and walking over to a screen on the wall that read the ships status.
"Yes, sir." The Captain nodded.
"This is quite the find we have here isn't it. Humans that didn't come from Earth, living with aliens on a planet that possesses numerous Forerunner relics."
"It is sir. Though I imagine that in many cases they aren't living together peacefully." Said Dante.
"You're probably right about that. Being different, it seems, is almost never a strong point for any civilization," The Captain said thoughtfully, walking back over to his desk, "You need only look at the past few hundred years of our history to see that."
The Captain sighed and sat back down behind his desk, "But, down to business. As you know, you were sent here to clear any and all Forerunner structures found on the planet. You will be provided with back up by ODST's and Sangheili, whenever they decide to get here."
An image taken from orbit popped into place on his desk of a Forerunner structure with the typical architecture of geometric angles.
"This will be your first objective. A Forerunner jamming signal. Our scans indicate that..."
"Captain!" The ships AI interrupted, appearing next to the desk where Dante stood.
"Slipspace ruptures detected, just past Spherite's moons! Signature dose not match our IFF!"
The Captain stood up and immediately headed towards the Bridge.
"Bring the ship up to full alert! I want everyone at their battle stations 5 seconds ago! Alert the Foreshadow if they don't already know and get those Frigates back here and in a defensive formation. I want the MAC cannon and plasma turrets fully charged now!" He ordered loudly with authority.
On board the UNSC Foreshadow alarms began sounding off throughout the entire ship.
Cornelia sounded off over the shrill alerts and red lights, "All hands, man your battle stations, man your battle stations! I repeat, man your battle stations! This is not a drill. General quarters! Man your battle stations!"
Captain Markwell entered the bridge of his ship to find the crew scrambling, going about their duties and preparing the Carrier for battle.
"What have we got Cornelia?" Markwell asked as he coolly took his seat in the Captains chair.
"5 Covenant Loyalist ships detected just off of Spherites moons, Sir. They're charging weapons and making their way towards us." The AI answered quickly as her holographic hands moved as if on an invisible console. She then proceeded to put up a display of the Covenant loyalists ships and showing their course.
"Raise shields to full and get the MAC cannon charged. What are their classifications Cornelia?" Asked the Captain examining the display in front of him.
"Profiles match signatures of a Corvette, 2 Frigates, a Battle Cruiser and a Reverence Class Cruiser." Answered Cornelia, pulling up information on each and displaying them for the Captain.
"Alright, they're just out of range so that gives us only a little time. Tell the Falujia to..."
"Incoming! All hands brace for impact!" Alerted Cornelia, only seconds before a beam from an energy projector struck the ship, taking down its shields. Not a second later a second beam sliced clean through the Foreshadow, slicing apart her lower decks and causing the whole ship to shudder, and the crew to stumble except Cornelia, who carried on regardless.
The life supporting atmosphere had already started to vent and continued until Cornelia closed down the vented systems. Another beam nearly hit the ship, missing the engines narrowly.
"Damage report!" Yelled Markwell, sitting back up and observing the bridge officers who where trying to bring the ships shields back online and confirm the damage.
"Sir, decks 1-4 have been lost on the Stern and decks 6,7 and 8 have taken severe damage and started to vent atmosphere. I'm sealing the breaches now."
"What the hell was that Cornelia? They where out of range!" Shouted the Captain in fury, trying to hold his ship together.
"The reverence class ship is equipped with 2 energy projectors, this one appears to have been modified to fire from long range. The shots however appear to have taken a lot out of the ship. It will be awhile before they can recharge. However if we want to avoid another attack like that I suggest handing control of the emergency thrusters to me. The energy projector fires at light speed but I will be able to detect a building in their power system just before they fire." reported Cornelia.
"Do it. We should be thankful that those shots were piss poor! Send the Frigates to circle around behind them! Have the Falujia attack from the front and hold them there, stick behind her and use her as cover. Scramble fighter wings 2,5,6 and 9. Have 1, 3 and 8 on standby. Whats the charge on the MAC cannon?" Demanded the Captain.
"MAC cannon charged at 90%." reported the AI, carrying out thousands of other tasks simultaneously.
"Good, let me know as soon as its ready. When we're in range launch a salvo of Plasma rounds at the lead frigate, followed up by archer missiles."
Captain Markwell sat back in the captains chair as the battle commenced, with both sides taking damage but neither gaining much ground.
The Brutes where no match when it came to the superior tactics and maneuvering, but what they did have on their side was the reverence class cruiser which could take a hell of a beating and dish it back out 10x as worse.
The Loyalist corvette was the first to go, its engines taking a critical hit from one of the UNSC Frigates that had flanked the battle group. Which is when the reverence class ship decided to turn its deadly fire on them. The UNSC Frigate 'Fallout' took the first hit, the energy projector slicing through their shields as if they weren't even there and proceeding to boil away deck after deck of reinforced armor plating, gutting the entire ship.
On board "The Wall", the ODST squad sat waiting in their Albatross' belly just as they were ordered too by the ships Captain, listening to the sounds of battle echoing off the sides of the large hanger that they sat in. Every one of them had their helmets on and their suits sealed tight, in case the worse should occur. Space combat is the worst things to sit through for anybody, because you never knew if the bulkhead you where starring at, might just explode and send you flying out into the black abyss.
Technicians ran around the hanger, getting all types of gear and other equipment set for the landing operation, but the ODST's could tell they just wanted something to do to distract themselves and who could blame them?
"God dammit, I hate this fucking shit!" Lance Corporal Carmela cried out, slamming her fist into the hood of the Warthog she was leaning on.
"Stow that shit Carmela. We're all on edge, but there's nothing we can do except ride this out." Said Gunny, trying to control Carmela so that the other Marines didn't start freaking out also.
"Just try to think up a story in your head. Come up with a plot, characters, that sort of thing. It will help take your mind off of it." Said Captain Ellis from next to Gunny, both of whom had sat through more space battles than all the ODST's present combined.
Carmela took a deep breath and slowly exhaled before responding. "Aye, sir."
Carmela was a solid Marine and never missed an opportunity to show that she could do anything that the rest of the squad could. She worked hard and made an effort at everything she did, training or otherwise.
She had red hair that she kept tied in a pony tail, with rough chocolate eyes.
The other Marines in the squad swore she had ice for blood, but she was always there ready to lend a helping hand if needed or if you just needed somebody to talk to.
Captain Ellis looked around and observed the rest of his troopers. They where all on edge, the sounds of the plasma turrets, chain guns, and the MAC cannon not helping to put their minds at ease.
He watched as Lance Corporal Seth sat on the floor next to where Carmela was standing, playing a hand held video game, which was an accomplishment with his helmet on.
Seth had a boyish face with short brown hair and was usually seen going out on town during leave with at least 2 girls on each arm. More than once the squad had had to rescue him from a truly insane girl that refused to leave him alone. But he was a great Marine and an even better warrior that had a lot of potential.
Both the Corporals of the squad, Aldo and Floyd sat in the back of the LAAV Warthog, playing a game of cards, though it was hard to tell which game exactly it was as they kept changing the rules. The two where inseparable and practically brothers.
Floyd had even been the best man at Aldo's wedding, something that the whole squad had attended.
Aldo was a bit shorter than Floyd with brown hair and a scar on his chin, while Floyd had jet black hair that he liked to grow out just below regulation length.
He laughed as he looked over at Treven, another Lance Corporal, who was obviously listening to music in his helmet as he was currently jamming it out with an air guitar, going for a ridiculously long solo.
Treven was the squads go-to guy for just about everything. From girls to explosives and everything in-between. He served as the squads techie and was known to be able to Jerry rig just about anything.
"So check this out, I got a message from one of my buddy's stationed on the Foreshadow right? He got to see a sneak preview of this world we're orbiting from a drone's camera." Floyd said leaning back and stretching as he talked, bringing Ellis out of his thoughts.
"He said he saw that they got villages down there, and plenty of hookers selling their wears on the street." The corporal finished with a smile as Seth's head popped up at hearing this.
Ellis was about to comment on the fact that no hooker, human or otherwise, would ever touch him, when the inside of the hanger exploded.
There ya' go. First of many to come.
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