A/N: Please keep in mind as you review that this is my very first fanfic. I've never anything written before save for essays in my English courses. This is just a mere taste of a story that I've thought about doing for quite some time now ever since playing Halo: Reach a billion times. This is just a prologue of whats to come in hopes that i'll get helpful feedback and apply them into later chapters. So take it easy on me fellow writers.
I don't own Halo. It belongs to its Microsoft overlords.
June, 2552.
Nakdong Province, New Muan, Nongjang.
One month before the Covenant invasion of Reach and three months before the discovery of Installation 04 [Halo].
PROLOGUE: ENTER RISA
Oh how I love Monday mornings! (not really). The time is 6:40 am. I always wake up before the dang alarm goes off, can't help it I suppose. I reluctantly rustle out of my heavenly nest of warmth and clumsily walk over to the window and open the blinds in my small, yet spacious room. The early light of dawn illuminates my little blue-walled haven of isolation to reveal yesterday's wardrobe cluttered on the floor in a pile beside the bed, the simple wooden dresser drawer adorned with a photo of my dad, mom and older brother, a replica of a UNSC Stalwart-class frigate that I put together all by myself (thank you very much!), my Tele-bracelet with a missed call from my boyfriend Aaron (I'll need to get him back on that) and Jason's helmet.
I don't have much else decorating my room save for a few posters and a small COM-NET console (great for playing games by the way!) on my desk (I'm not as materialistic as most teenage women nowadays). I quickly make my bed, grab a bath robe and aimlessly saunter off to the bathroom. Before I can get the water running I stop to gaze at my reflection in the mirror.
There I am, Risa Yeun Brandt. I'm nineteen years old, female, and a citizen of Nongjang, a UNSC outer colony which is one of several agrarian planets vital to making sure that everyone's well fed. As you can probably tell from the name, most of my planet's citizens are of Korean descent, even me (well, I'm half-Korean since my dad's of German descent and my mom hails from the United Korea). My lovely dark hair is a total disaster, drool stains my night shirt as my face looks like that of a zombie. I strip naked, finally step into the shower and get the water running-
AHHH! HOT! HOT! I'M ALIVE NOW!
- it seems I forgot to mix in the cold water, nice one stupid. The warm water feels like heaven as I wash every corner of my petite body. After that I dry myself off, use the toilet, wash up, and head back to my room to put on some fresh clothes. I put on some really casual stuff like an olive-drab t-shirt complete with gray jeans and dark-brown women's boots.
*rumble*
I require morning sustenance.
As I make my way downstairs towards the kitchen I always take note of the house I grew up in. It's rustic but cozy with a nice light blue interior decorated with old paintings. I guess my dad has always had a keen eye for the arts. I make my way into the kitchen and yep he's not here, yet again. My dad's been busy lately doing what? Beats me.
All I know is that he spends most of his time either taking care of farm business in town or doing "God knows what" in the Drone Server Shed near the edge of the farm. It all started ever since my Marine older brother Jason died two years ago when the ship he was stationed on, the UNSC Nomura went down. The reports say it was Rebels, but I've heard chilling rumors that it wasn't. It fucking sucks because it happened right before he was going to transfer to another ship, the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. Talk about shit timing.
This wasn't the first time I lost a family member. See I'm the youngest of 3 siblings, or should I say was the youngest. The would-be oldest was my sister Abigail who (according to dad) was 6 years old when she became mysteriously ill and died shortly after. This was before I was born. Then Jason came along and then I made my debut seven years later.
Unfortunately it was at the cost of my mother's life. She died giving birth to me. I'm all that's left. Talk about luck, I really don't want to think about it (I miss you Jason, I miss you so much).
Dad's always trying to occupy himself with things when I'm not around to distract him ever since then. He's so strong willed it's amazing. That also explains why he never remarried. It was a really hard time for us. But at least he doesn't drink, you go dad! Okay back to reality, it appears he prepared breakfast for me beforehand! He's so sweet. He always has what's best for me in mind no matter what. I love you so much daddy.
I eat my tasty morning servings of Moa sausages, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, kim-chi, coffee, and finish it off a multi-vitamin supplement. As I eat my meal, the HOLO-screen broadcasts the morning news which mentions large shipments of Moa livestock arriving today all the way from Reach, clear weather with the possibility of rain, enlistments in the UNSC military increasing drastically and updates on our war with the Insurrectionists (or "Innies" as referred to by those in uniform).
It makes me a little uneasy how the media always talk about our war with the Rebels like it's going out of style, but completely avoid touching on the other war. I've heard that it's a much bigger war with an enemy far deadlier and alien than the Rebels. That they're the ones who really killed my brother and most of the Nomura's crew.
Before I can finish my thoughts of grief, my dad walks in and wakes me from my daydream. "Good morning my little princess! How's it going?" he says happily as he walks towards me and gives me a kiss on the forehead.
"Hey abeoji, I'm good this fine morning" I say.
"I see you're in a good mood" I tell him.
"What were you doing in the Server Shed this time?" I ask.
"Well, err... I was running diagnostics with the help of Cory, the company tech support and a fellow engineer like yours truly". He says.
"Looks like we'll need to upgrade the guidance software for the bots" he tells me with a confident smile.
"Cory? This early?" I ask feeling skeptically. His face appears unsure, like he's trying to be careful of what to say.
"Yeah, you know he's always been a good friend and is happy to give us a hand. Plus it's his day off" he reassures me.
"Good point. But why do we need to upgrade the drone software? They were working fine last I checked?" I ask, still somewhat skeptical.
He puts on his "expert" face. "Remember how interference blocks the signal from my Tele-bracelet? The reason why we can't communicate wirelessly because of the photons in the radio wave-" I cut him off before he can bore me to death.
"Okay, I get it professor. The "interference" is messing with the software in the servers" I say.
"Clever girl, you never cease to impress me haha" he confirms with a hint of surprise.
I understand he wants to make sure everything here works the way they're suppose to. But something tells me there's more to it. That he's not telling me everything. I don't know what it is, but it could be nothing. It all started when he'd spend hours occupying himself with fixing things, work, business, writing software and more recently, playing in the Server Shed.
I've decided it's best to just let him be because after losing two kids and my mom he has every right to his hobbies. Whatever helps him sleep at night and keeps the bottle away.
He turns to the HOLO while pouring coffee into his favorite mug (gift from mom). Then his face slowly goes from happy to downright blank as he turns to the HOLO-screen where the news starts talking about the revival of the UNSC Nomura.
Perfect timing you damn robotic script reading shit-for-brains. They build up those things fast, it makes me think about the other war.
He turns off the screen and stares in silence. I look down at my feet with a glum look on my face.
I decide to finally break the awkward silence "Well, I guess it's about time for me to head out soon otherwise Mr. Park will kill me for being late again" I tell him.
He returns back to normal. "Oh okay, I'm actually about to leave with Cory downtown to handle some business and won't be back till tonight" he says.
"If you get hungry just order take-out or cook up something since you love cooking so much" he says sarcastically.
"And stay out of trouble. I'll be back before it gets too dark and NO you can't bring Aaron here, I know how I was like around girls at his age" he warns me.
"Sir yes sir!" I reply sarcastically.
I proceed to clean up my plate, and get ready to head out. I run upstairs back to my room to fetch Jason's helmet which was a gift of sympathy (along with his dog tags) from his friend in the Marines who was saved by him during the fall of the Nomura (you were always brave and selfless Jason).
Why am I fetching it? It makes a great bike helmet and somehow it feels like he's still here protecting my fragile little head.
As I put on my sweatshirt, grab my satchel, and make my way through the living room I notice something peculiar.
There's a mysterious e-mail displayed on my dad's HOLO-tablet he left open on the coffee table.
I pick it up and read the header which states:
"FOR YOUR EYES ONLY Dear Mr. Adam Brandt. We here at the United Nations Space Command Office of Naval Intelligence [ONI] require your presence at the location listed below to discuss matters with our representatives regarding-"
My dad swiftly snatches the HOLO out of my hands before I can finish reading it. Wow! he is fast!
"Whoa! Hey! Watch it young lady! Don't ever read my e-mails without my permission understand?" He says in a very serious tone.
I'm suddenly taken aback. "Sorry! Curiosity got the better of me, Sorry! I didn't read anything I swear!" I reassure him carefully.
His green eyes pierce into my brown ones like he's scanning my mind, reading my intentions.
I try to escape before it gets anymore weird. "I'll be going now okay? I'll call you later. Love you!" I say as I give my dad a kiss on the cheek.
He relaxes and goes back to his normal state. "It's all gravy, don't worry about it my little beauty. Just take care of yourself out there okay kiddo." He tells me and heads back to the kitchen, through the back door to meet up with Cory.
I proceed to walk out the door outside to the nice cool and sunny morning.
I begin to take in the peaceful and calming scenery of expansive crop fields spanning all the way to the mountains in the distance. I look up and smile at the two moons still visible in the sky with the sun breaking through the clouds.
Interestingly enough, I notice what looks like a Stalwart-class frigate flying gracefully through the clouds. I know because I have a model of it in my room. I can hear it's thrusters roar, boy would I kill to go inside one of those things.
Nongjang doesn't have a huge military or naval presence like that of Reach by a long shot. But it's still considered vital to the UNSC and Earth so she has her own small fleet, a few orbital defense platforms, and a couple of Army battalions stationed in Fort Pyongyang just in case.
Luckily for me the helmet still has a working HUD with a zoom in feature.
Before the frigate disappears into a huge cloud, I barely catch it's name written on the hull. In Amber Clad.
I look towards the east to see the drones activating to start their morning routines of tending to the crops.
The farm is actually pretty old since it's been around ever since the planet was deemed safe for colonizing. It's been with the family for generations and is of now under contract by Dok-do Colonial a company based back on Earth in the United Korea that distributes supplies throughout the colonies.
To say this is a big farm would be a huge understatement since it's really huge (like POW!) because we cultivate a wide assortment of food crops from barley, corn, cabbage, wheat and potatoes, hell you name it. The farm's so big that man-power alone wouldn't be enough to make a profit, so the credit goes to the small army of automated systems that manage this place with efficiency.
I begin to take in the cool air and make my way down the concrete pathway leading from my house to the main road. from there I hop on my foldable, old-school bike, put on my helmet, and ride south one mile down the road to the shuttle station at the end to catch a ride to town from there.
As I ride on I take note of the never ending fields of veggies that still glow with the morning dew and the simple buildings pockmarked here and there with the occasional eighteen-wheeler passing by as well as a few cars. This appears to be any other boring day with the usual routine ever since I started working at Park's Bakery, But a weird feeling in my gut tells me that something is going to change all of that. It's probably nothing...
Please review and give helpful feedback, tips and pointers. I would REALLY appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed it, take care!