Disclaimer: Well, if I owned Halo, I'd be so freaking awesome. I don't own anything of Aliens. If I did, I'd sooooo be making this into a movie. Well. Bye. Otherwise, it's Bungie's. See ya.
Aliens Vs. The Flood
Chapter One - It Begins
The A.I. Cortana stirred from her rest as her scanners picked up something heading towards the seventh Halo ring. It was a small ship, about half the size of one of the Covenant's cruisers. It was heading past her ship, towards the surface of Halo not too far from where Master Chief and his team was.
"Chief?" Cortana asked urgently, chiming in through Master Chief, Spartan 1-1-7, commonly known to her as John's radio in his helmet.
"There's an unidentifiable ship heading towards the ring's surface on the left side of your position. Might be full of Covenant, so I recommend going to check it out to make sure you're not getting ambushed from behind."
Master Chief looked into the makeshift "sky" and noticed a large ball of flame heading more or less in their direction. The Master Chief grabbed two SMG's and 4 fragmentation grenades. He had a small group of seven marines to look after as well.
"Head towards the crash site. But first, load up on weapons and ammo, just in case it's a trap." he told the marines.
Once there, Covenant bodies littered the crash site. Master Chief didn't really take notice at first but upon closer inspection noticed the Elites were fine except they all had giant holes in their chests. Silently, the group spread out and slowly advanced to the ship, guns raised. They heard a noise behind them and everyone turned around unanimously. Unknown to everyone else, one of the marines behind the Chief near the exposed hole in the side of the ship was grabbed; a clawed hand put over his mouth, and thrust into the darkness of the ship. Suddenly, the COM channel opened and everyone turned towards the ship.
"Ahh! What is that! What the f-" the COM filled with static and went dead.
"Marines, stay behind. I'm going to go take a look inside, if I don't get back in ten minutes, complete the mission without me." the Master Chief said.
The Master Chief reloaded his weapons and slowly approached the opening that led to the ship's inner workings. Right as he got just a few feet away, something in the darkness shimmered and the Master Chief backed up just as a creature lunged at him and outstretched it's clawed hands. It landed on and tackled the Master Chief. Even with the MJOLNIR armor shields active, it still clung to the Master Chief. He drove bullets into the monster and he emptied both guns. The creature had a tail and attempted to skewer him with it. John pulled out the shotgun and blew it's head off, with guts and blood spilling everywhere. The Master Chief got up and checked the damage. He noticed his shields going down slowly, and saw steam in front of his visor and looked down. Acid. The creature bled acid. He noticed that the other places where the blood fell on the ground burned through almost instantaneously. It finally stopped and his shields slowly replenished. The Marines stared unbelievingly at this monstrosity before them. It had an elongated head, a bony exoskeleton body, and a sharp tail.
"Any idea what that was?" Master Chief asked Cortana.
"Nothing in the files."
"This is just great." A marine said out loud.
"Let's get out of here." Cortana spoke to the Master Chief.
John silently nodded.
It's been twenty years since the destruction of the first Halo. Master Chief had felt age and weariness creep up on him, ever slowly. But he knew that ever since the augmentations when he was a kid, he aged in dog years. He's in his mid 20's. But in reality, his late 40's. He was getting tired of constantly fighting, and now a new foe to deal with?
They left as fast as they could. Leaving behind the smoking crash site of the new species. Unbeknownst to them, as soon as they left and were far enough away, several of the creatures poured out of the hatch, and grabbed the bodies of the dead Elites and dragged them inside.
On the Covenant Holy Ship Truth Beckoned
Goshinki Gonama'ee always hated emergency officer calls to the meeting room. Whenever one was called, it always led to talk of the Demon. The Demon was the human's greatest asset. They called it, a spartan. It could kill an entire army of Covenant by itself, and they always feared it. It was a danger to their goal of universal peace and prosperity for all the Covenant.
"Please, officers, sit down." said the Prophet of Justice. Only the golden-armored Elites sat down.
Along with the Prophet of Justice were the Prophets of Truth and Wisdom. The prophets, for what they were, may have been smaller than the Elites, but used their technology to lead the way to a new age within forming the Covenant and their holy idealogies. Short and putrid looking, all three of them sat in floating chairs each with an adorned crown on their heads.
Gonama'ee, with his gold armor shining brightly, sat near the front of the group in a row of seats while the rest of them stood at ease. There were two other gold plated Elites, Horent Pokun'aa, and Gargunt Natus'ii. Among the Elites that were present were six red Elites, five silver Elites, two black Elites, and four blue/black Commando Elites.
"It seems that the Demon has landed on the 7th ring and plans to do what he has done to the other rings." the Prophet of Truth spoke. The Elites grumbled.
"But there is a problem; we lost contact with a group of Sangheili near the crash site of a strange ship. It hit just recently and we ordered them to check it out. But we soon lost their signal as they approached." Justice finished.
"We need Gonama'ee, Pokun'aa, and Natus'ii to go and check out what happened. We will need the rest of you for air support if needed." Wisdom concluded.
"Is this clear?" Justice asked.
Gonama'ee stood up along with the other two gold Elites and saluted with the rest of them.
"YES! ALMIGHTY PROPHETS!" they all responded.
"Good. Pokun'aa, Natus'ii, ready your ships. We wish to speak to Gonama'ee alone." Justice commanded.
Gonama'ee stood there for a few moments, starting hard and shocked as the rest filed out of the door. He waited patiently as the Prophets spoke among themselves. Once they looked finished he approached.
"Y-you wanted to speak to me almighty ones…" he stuttered. In a way, he was frightened by this sudden decision. Usually, they executed the ones they speak to discreetly so it's not too humiliating.
"Yes," Justice started. "We wanted to speak to you about your leadership role. You need not worry about your troops anymore. You need only to worry about us."
"Sir?" Gonama'ee asked, looking at Justice without blinking.
"Gonama'ee, can you recite the Covenant Writ of Union. The 1st Canto?" Prophet Wisdom asked.
So full of hate were our eyes
That none of us could see
Our war would yield countless dead
But never victory
So let us cast arms aside
And like discard our wrath
Thou, in faith, will keep us safe
Whilst we find the path
"Good." Truth said.
"You remember the tale of the Arbiters, Gonama'ee?" Wisdom asked.
He nodded.
"The Arbiters were Sangheili. But not just any Sangheili. These were the best of the best, and more useful in modern affairs when it comes to terms of thinking clearly. They held the Covenant together." Truth spoke.
"Indeed...the Hunter's Rise, the Grunt Rebellion." Wisdom added.
"Were it not for the Arbiters, the Covenant would have broken long ago." Justice said.
"We need you to follow in the footsteps of the Arbiters." Wisdom stated.
This was unheard of. Gonama'ee? An Arbiter? He loved the idea of possessing abilities no one else had. He was the best of the best. Only the Elites with the most knowledge, power, and cunning could become Arbiters.
"We need you to be the eyes and ears of the Prophets down on the ring." Wisdom said.
"It seems that this new ship has presented a problem. We need you to find out what the cause of this is." Justice said.
"Some say there is a new species. A human asset." Gonama'ee said.
"If so, bring back a creature alive." Truth said.
With that, Gonama'ee was presented with the Arbiter armor. Along with dual plasma rifles and an energy sword. He slid the intricate, gray armor on piece by piece until he felt whole.
Somewhere in a snow covered valley on Halo
"The control room is this way." Cortana put a NAV point on his HUD. It was on high ground and he needed a Banshee to reach the top of the cliff side.
"Hold position." John commanded.
"Yes sir!" they responded.
He found a patrol of Elites not too far from the marines and noticed a Banshee aircraft against the wall next to a door leading inside a huge structure.. Four blue Elites with energy swords. He began to move back and his foot hit something made of metal. He looked down and a sniper rifle was at his feet next to some dead marines.
He quickly grabbed it and reloaded it. There were four guards, with only four shots in the sniper. Four quick shots and four dead Elites lay at his feet as he passed by without a word. Quickly flying up to the doorwar against a cliffside bridge, he noticed that when he went further into the compound, no one was there.
'Odd.' he thought to himself.
"Yes, it is." Cortana probed inside his mind. She would always read his mind even when she didn't mean to.
"Where is the Covenant? It's not like them to leave a control point unguarded. Any sign on the movement tracker?" he asked Cortana.
"Scanning." she paused." Nothing here, just us."
"What about heat signatures?" he asked a little more quickly.
"Sorry, Chief. Nothing is in this room.
Thinking nothing more of it, Master Chief stepped into the energy barrier and disrupted it. The Pulse Generator fizzed and died from reacting with the shields of Master Chief's MJOLNIR armor. Nothing happened after it blew. Nothing. No Covenant alarms, not shaking exploding room. Always, ALWAYS, there was something that wanted him dead. Something was very wrong here, but he had no time to question it. He had to take down the other two energy fields down as well That way, he could get into the Library and retrieve the Index so Halo couldn't be activated.
On a Covenant Phantom Ship
"Beginning approach to the surface." One red Elite pilot named Turaga'uu said to the crew.
Gonama'ee started to sweat a little bit. He quickly shook the thought off of what had just occured in the last few hours and regained his composure. He heard the hum of the gravity lift starting up and he walked to it. He stepped into the lit ring and felt his weight being lifted then dropped. His feet landed on the ground and he quickly got into attack position by pulling out his Energy Sword. Sensing no immediate danger, he sheathed his weapons and waited for the others to drop. Only a handful came down in case something happened to the rest of them.
"Let us hurry to the crash site." Pokun'aa shouted, pointing forward.
They started to jog to it with various weapons being unholstered and activated along the way. When they reached it, it was a sight to behold.
"What happened here?" one blue Elite proclaimed.
There was dried-up blood everywhere, Human and Covenant alike, but there were also some holes in places.
"No Human weapon can create holes that burn through metal, at least, no weapon we've seen, maybe a new weapon." A blue Elite stated.
"Yes and what is this webbing? It's very gooey and sticky." another blue Elite shouted.
"I will go inside and investigate this further. Do not follow until I give a signal." Gonama'ee said to Pokun'aa.
"Very well, we'll wait here. You heard him men! But just in case, you two," Pokun'aa pointed to two blue Elites and they walked over.
"Go with the Arbiter just in case."
"Yes sir!" they responded.
"Now go Arbiter. We shall wait for your signal." he seemed to smile as he said so.
Gonama'ee went inside followed closely by the two blue Elites, feeling colder as he passed through the hole in the side of the ship.
They walked for a while before any of them said anything. Electricity sparking every so often around them as their armored feet echoed in the long stretch of hallway. Finally, Gonama'ee spoke up.
"You see anything on your motion detectors?" Gonama'ee asked.
"No sir. Nothing but metal." one of the Elites responded.
They came upon a spread out area. Like a donut shape with a column in the middle. There were four directions.
Gonama'ee took out his sword and cut a symbol into the side of it, and they headed north.
"How is everything down there?" Pokun'aa asked over the intercom in the helmet.
"Good so far. Nothing yet. Really dark, hard to see." Gonama'ee replied.
They somehow got back to the same four way intersection corridor after traveling for a good ten minutes and went down the three other hallways seperately.
"If you find anything strange, report in." Gonama'ee told them before they left.
"Yes sir."
Back on the Phantom
Natus'ii was getting restless.
"What's taking so long?" he asked to himself.
One of the blue Elites had traveled into an open area with a column in the middle of it. He placed a hand on a circular indention in the middle of it, and it sparked to life. A hologram was projected and showed the ship's blue prints and various floors and compartments.
"I've found a map room. Let's take a look at this vessel." he said into the headset, to which Natus'ii jumped up from his chair, listening in.
It wasn't gigantic, but it was very complex. Vents littered the walls, several small corridors were found. This was going to take awhile if they wanted to explore everything inside.
"Sir, multiple signatures are going off the walls in a big room in the bottom of the ship." the other blue Elite exclaimed.
"Get me the online status of their HUD's." Natus'ii asked.
Three large screens appeared in view and the Phantom ship now could see what Gonama'ee and the other Elites could see.
In the ship
Gonama'ee walked for a while longer and found some sort of green residue against the walls.
"What's this?" he asked himself.
He then saw a stream of slime drop from the ceiling. He looked up.
"The Parasite?" he said.
On the Phantom
"What in the Prophet's name is Flood doing there?" Pokun'aa asked, listening in outside the ship.
"Do any of you down there have a visual?" Natus'ii asked.
"No sir, we-" one of the Elites said as he stopped mid-sentence.
"What?" Natus'ii asked.
"You might want to see this sir." the lone blue Elite said.
"By the Prophets!" Natus'ii exclaimed.
What they saw was a huge room with eggs all around. The blue Elite inspected the walls and gasped as a dead Elite with a hole in it's chest fell into view of the camera. Unfortunately, this awoke the room and it's contents. There was a sort of chitinous sound of metal against metal. But it wasn't the lone Elite.
"We're coming to your position! Stay there!" Gonama'ee shouted.
Suddenly, the camera of the lone Elite in the large room suddenly went black. A large, spider-like creature engulfed the video screen. They heard muffled screams then fell silent.
"What is that?" Natus'ii shouted as the creature continued to block the screen.
The other blue Elite suddenly shouted and his screen fizzed out. The same creature on the other's HUD appeared on his as well. Gonama'ee then decided to get to the exit.
"Arbiter, find them quick!" Pokun'aa said.
"What are those things?" Gonama'ee asked, starting to sprint.
"I don't know."
"What's going on down there?" Natus'ii asked.
"Need backup! I'm heading to the entrance." Gonama'ee shouted, there was nothing he could do for the two Elites, he had to get out of there.
Outside the ship
Pokun'aa heard enough.
"You heard him men, go go go!" Pokun'aa ordered.
"I'll put a NAV marker on the Arbiter, so you can track him." Natus'ii called out.
They all began to rush in but as soon as they got to the entrance they heard a screech coming from inside the dark hall. An unlucky Elite closest to the entrance was skewered by a black tail. The Elite shouted a cry of pain, and then it was dragged inside. As it disappeared, the group was assaulted by a handful of the same creatures as before. They quickly engaged the enemy and bunkered down.
In the ship
"Arbiter, some strange creatures have blocked the way out. Find another route." Pokun'aa shouted over the intercom.
Gonama'ee turned to a different direction. But he did not know where to go. Almost as if on cue, Natus'ii chimed in.
"Arbiter, there is a NAV point on your HUD, it's another way out. Go!" he shouted.
He started to head in the direction, but he was met with a serpent creature.
"I have no time for this!"
He attacked it with his sword, he cut it to bits but it sprayed it's blood on him. His shields went down.
"What's this? Scan it." Gonama'ee asked Natus'ii.
"Acidic residue, doesn't look like it'll kill you but your shields will be vulnerable the more of that you get on you. Be careful Arbiter!" Natus'ii told him.
He headed down another corridor or two and found his way to a dome type room.
"You're in the fusion reactor core! The exit is up top. You should be able to jump up to it."
Just as he jumped up, a long, bony hand grabbed his foot. It brought him back down and he was about to shoot it. But he got a good look at the offender. It wasn't just a serpent creature. It was a serpent creature with Covenant Elite parts that seemed to be fused with it's body.
It said nothing as it bared it's teeth.
"By the prophets...you're...part Sangheili!" he shuddered.
It laughed slowly, starting to move it's lips.
"Yes...it seems when we took on your traits with you Covenant fools, your knowledge...language... and power were transferred to us..." it said in a low tone.
"DIE!" Gonama'ee shouted.
He charged for it and the thing jumped out of the way in a blur.
"That thing is fast." Gonama'ee told himself.
It then hit Gonama'ee from behind with one of it's armored claws. It did not pierce the armor, but his shield hit rock bottom. Gonama'ee ran and rolled pulling out his two plasma rifles and was about to fire, but it disappeared into the darkness. He got up and holstered his two plasma rifles and unsheathed his energy sword. The creature jumped out from behind him and got on top of him knocking the energy sword out of Gonama'ee's hand.
"You cannot kill me!" it shouted.
Gonama'ee struggled under the weight of the enemy. It opened it's mouth and a second set of jaws tried to bite his head. He manuevered his feet under the creatures's chest and kicked it off and lunged for his energy sword. He sliced it down it's side through it's leg. The creature feel to a knee and jumped back into the darkness, beaten.
"I'll be back for you. Arbiter!" it shouted as Gonama'ee ran for the exit quickly.
Gonama'ee jumped out and ran across the top of the ship and heard a fierce battle coming from the old entrance to the ship. He ran across the top of it and saw Pokun'aa and the others doing battle with the normal creatures. He quickly joined the battle by jumping off the roof and brining his Energy Sword down into the head of one of the things.
"Arbiter! You made it!" Pokun'aa shouted.
Gonama'ee started to attack the other serpent-like creatures. Unlike that hybrid that he faced, these unchanged serpents died the instant they were sliced. Of course,The last one dropped eventually. He needed to report this to the Prophets. Gathering everyone they stepped into the gravity lift back into the ship and left the surface.
In the crashed ship
Back in the dark ship where the Covenant-Alien and the Arbiter fought, stood the same one, only now it was joined with several others of it's kind.
"Time to take this world by storm." it shouted disgustingly.
The others let out a giant screech as the ship of the Covenant lifted off into space.
"They have no idea what's in store for them." it said quietly.
It turned to the pack.
"Do you hunger for hosts?" it called to them.
It was met with a huge roar of approval.
"Then let's go get ourselves new hosts and new bodies!"
They leapt out of the hole and ran across the countryside of Halo.
Unbeknowst to even those creatures, a small bulbous ooze-covered, tentacled small flesh colored creature skittered out of the wreckage of the ship as well. It scurried to a dead Elite's corpse and crawled inside the hole in the chest. The Elite's eyes opened and gurgled. Blood pouring out of it's mouth and chest. It's face contorted and split apart, the armor itself breaking apart and fleshy veins and tentacles from the head, and spread from the rest of the body.
The Flood were now on the Halo ring as well.
End Chapter One