A/N: Hey, guys! Yup, this is my new story and i'm totally stoked about it! Actually, i already have a lot of the chapters typed up already but i've been tweaking it a little bit here and there but now i think it's ready to be posted! *happy dance*
But, pay attention to the dates. This story takes place over several years and in several different places and it's important that you know when and where everything is happening so you really know what's going on.
Part I
Chapter 1: Unknown
0400 Hours, August 7, 2557 (Military Calendar)/
Lambda Serpentis System, Surface of Unknown Planet
Dust kicked up as the massive albatross touched down. Huge stabilizing arms reached out and dug themselves into the ground to hold the ship upright. The pilot turned off the engines and allowed the ship to cool as the passengers prepared to step out of the ship. From the back of the ship, steam hissed as three, large ramps lowered down to the ground. Each was loaded with vehicles and people.
An elephant moved first, pulling out of the cargo bay and driving at a painfully slow rate away from the drop ship. Right after it, a warthog pulled out of the ship and circled around the albatross, inspecting it quickly from the outside.
Meanwhile, the elephant, laden with over thirty professors and soldiers in spacesuits, moved further away from the ship. Doctor Heinz Hawes looked out at the landscape through his spacesuit's helmet as the vehicle stopped. It was very earth-like here. Large rolling plains dotted with trees dominated the scene as far as the eye could see, making a sort of lush green carpet before them.
A younger scientist stepped forward and tapped his shoulder as he spoke. "Sir, we're setting up the device to test the oxygen level here."
Dr. Hawes glanced at the younger man and nodded as he stood straighter. "Right," he said in his thick German accent. The younger man nodded and motioned for him to follow. He asked, "Are we testing the fertility of the soil?"
"Yes, sir," replied the young man as they stepped off the elephant. Soldiers stood about armed with their battle rifles and other weapons. The warthog was now parked next to the elephant, turret already rotating and ready for anything. Several scientists were pointing about and directing where large equipment was to be set up. Some of the devices were already up and testing the area.
The younger scientist looked at Dr. Hawes and asked, "How was the Marine Corps able to spare soldiers with all the re-colonization and reconstruction everywhere?"
After the war, the UNSC used the remaining troops to help keep order as they tried to re-colonize most of their former colonies. The ones that weren't glassed basically. It was an ongoing project that was yet to be completed and almost all of the troops were still dedicated to it. But, it wasn't a shock to Hawes that they spared twenty soldiers to oversee this research trip. Besides, they were there seeing if this planet could be inhabited by humans so that counted as re-colonization in a way.
Dr. Hawes looked at the man briefly and said, "There's only a few soldiers here, son. I'm sure that didn't hurt the Marine Corps one bit."
The younger scientist said nothing but lowered his head to look at an electronic pad. "Sir?" he asked. Hawes braced himself for another stupid question. "Why are we trying to colonize a planet so close to the Covenant?"
Hmm, not such a dumb question after all. And it was rather curious. After the Covenant had invaded and destroyed Jericho VII, they again visited to gather Tritium gas for the mass slipspace jump to earth. After that, the Covenant established a refueling station and from there they colonized. Now, four years after the war, they inhabit three planets in the system. It truly was strange that the UNSC wanted to live on a planet so close to their former enemies. But, Dr. Hawes told the doctor what he'd been told, "The leaders of our kind want to live near them so we can try to prove that our species can establish a treaty and live in harmony. Before we do the full colonization, they'll send the best politicians to ensure that everything will go smoothly."
The man stopped looking at his pad and said, "Are they really willing to trust them? After all they've done?"
Hawes shrugged. "We made peace with the Sangheili."
"Yeah, because they realized what they were doing was wrong and they wanted to have peace between us."
Dr. Hawed stopped abruptly and sighed as he looked at the man. "Well, then if worse comes to worse, they'll help us fight them off again. Besides, the Covenant are completely divided now that the prophets are gone. Even if they did start to try and fight us again we'd crush them easily. Don't worry about that." He poked the man in chest and said, "You need to worry about the equipment and the tests."
"Yes, sir." The man then walked off to go and make sure everything was running smoothly.
Dr. Hawes then rubbed his spacesuit's hands together in anticipation as he walked away from all the devices and away from the elephant. Everything was going smoothly so far and he couldn't be happier.
But, something was still at the back of his mind. Many years ago, when they'd first started looking for a place to colonize, there was nothing in this area of space. Years ago, this planet didn't exist and then suddenly, it appeared out of the blue. There may be a few explanations about it, but most of them were ridiculous. Never mind though, he had other things to worry about.
As he glanced off in the distance, he thought he saw something falling from the sky. A glare on his suit's helmet from the system's two suns was right on top of it though, and made it hard to see. His shifted his head around and just as he caught a brief glimpse of it; it dropped behind large clouds in the distance. He imagined he was still watching the object and kept his eyes moving down. Again, he caught a glimpse of it, but only just before it disappeared behind more low clouds. The doctor stared at the clouds in the distance and could see small mountains peeking out from under them. He knew that there were more landing vessels, but he never heard anything about a group landing in the mountains. "What the hell?" he asked himself as he took a step toward it.
"Sir?" asked someone.
He whirled around, startled, and looked at another young scientist. "Yes?" he asked, trying make sure his voice didn't shake.
"Um, I just wanted to let you know that we tested the oxygen levels and they're almost exactly like earth. So, if you want to you can remove your suit now." Then, he turned and walked back toward where all the devices were.
Dr. Hawes sighed deeply as he took his helmet off. The suits had improved greatly since the twenty first century, but they were still bulky, hot, and uncomfortable. But, better safe than sorry. He walked back toward the elephant as he unzipped his suit. A soldier was looking at the digital map in the lower part of the elephant and Hawes asked, "So, how's the landscape?"
"Excellent, sir." The man never took his eyes off the map as he marked an area with a circle.
"What's that?" asked the doctor.
This time, the man glanced at him. "That's our landing zone, sir. We'll save it so when this goes down in the history books; our grandkids will know exactly where the pioneers landed." He man smiled and nodded to himself.
Hawes laughed a little. "But, we don't even know for sure if we can inhabit this planet. There's a lot of factors to consider."
The man shrugged. "I know. But I'm being optimistic."
The doctor remembered the mysterious falling object and asked hesitantly, "Do you know where all the landing vehicles are?"
"Yeah, of course," said the man. He pressed a few buttons on the map and they watched it enlarged it around their landing site. "That good?"
Hawes groaned. "Umm… I need to see the mountains."
"Oh. Well that's no problem," he said. Again, he enlarged the map until their landing site was only the size of the baseball on the map. Other circles were scattered about, but none were in the mountains.
But Hawes was still curious, and slightly troubled. "Um… Where's the group that landed in the mountains?"
This time the officer was confused. "Sir, there are no groups that are going to land in the mountains. " Hawes asked if the circles were based on the groups radioing in and telling him of their locations. "It is… kind of," the man said vaguely. "Every navigator in all the groups gets a copy of the target landing areas. When the groups touch down there, they radio in and I circle it. So when we compare the maps, we can see if anyone went missing." He then dug through a small stack of papers and grabbed one that looked like the digital map. "See? No circles in the mountains. There was no group that was supposed to land there."
Indeed, no marking indicated that anyone was going to land anywhere near there. They were nearest group, and the mountains seemed to be thirty miles away. "This makes no sense…" he said to himself as he grabbed a corner and rotated it so he could look at it easier.
The soldier shrugged and went back to his map. "Sorry, man. But landing in the mountains is a bad idea anyways. The terrain there is really rough and unpredictable." He hesitated and asked, "Why do you ask, sir?"
Hawes didn't know if he should confide in the man or not. Whatever he saw, it wasn't supposed to be there and there might be something else going on. He looked up at the man with a smile and said, "I was just wondering. They… look interesting and might have some new natural resources we can study." He sighed and clapped the man on his shoulder. "Thanks again."
"Yeah… no problem." The man seemed hesitant and confused, but he didn't press his superior any further as he turned back to his map.
Dr. Hawes set down his spacesuit garments on the floor next to the digital map and tugged lightly at his uniform collar. He didn't feel like a proper doctor unless he had his lab coat. But, oh well. He was helping the UNSC take a big step forward. Inhabiting planet so close to the Covenant may seem like suicide on the surface, but, when their alien friends saw how they could live in harmony, it would all work out. And the human race could claim another alien ally.
As he walked out again to view the experiments yet another young scientist stepped forward. "Sir, here's the results for most of the tests so far."
Hawes accepted the electronic pad quickly and scanned over it. Almost every test had been a success. Still, they had more to do, but the results so far were promising. Promising enough to call the UNSC command and tell them to ready a vessel to send in more supplies to occupy the planet. They would set up small outposts around the original landing zones, but the main one would be on top of their landing site. His landing site. He would go down in history for this. It was bringing them one step closer to intergalactic peace.
He smiled broadly and passed the pad back. The young man nodded thankfully and set off to see how the rest of the tests were going.
Again, Dr. Hawes couldn't be happier. And as he watched them raise the UNSC flag on the landing spot he drifted off, thinking of his future. Money, glory, recognition… glory. It was all too good to be true.
He glanced back toward the mountains range and saw that the clouds had moved away and the peaks were standing in their full glory. One mountain was at least twice as tall as the others and dominated the scene. It was an awe inspiring sight indeed. But, two questions were circling in his head as he looked at them. What was that thing that crashed there? What other secrets are hidden on this planet?
The poor man had no idea that those questions would plague him for years.
I hope you guys enjoyed chapter 1!!! It will get a ton better and really interesting soon! Also, i don't really refer to the Covenant species by their usual names that are used in the games. So, here are their names:
Sangheili= Elites
Jiralhanae= Brutes
San 'Shyuum= Prophets
Unggoy= Grunts
Kig-yar= Jackals
Mgalekgolo (No idea how to pronounce that so don't ask)= Hunters
Yanme'e= Drones
Huragok= Engineers (Though i doubt that they'll be in this story)
Yup, that's the Covenant for ya! I get most of my information off of Halopedia so if you guys have any questions you can either message me and i can give you the website or i can look it up and answer for you. Oh, and that history of the Lambda Serpentis System (that's seriously a real place... in the Halo universe lol), that's not mine that's Halopedia's. =)
Please review! Thanks, guys!