A/N: Hey everyone. As you may know this will be my second fic and I haven't finished my first one, but I do plan to sometime. However, not only do I seem to have unlimited amounts of school work, but I seem to have written myself into a corner in "Survivor of Genocide." One of these days I'll realize that all I have to do is turn around and walk out the corner, but until then, I decided I needed something to keep me in practice. So without any further ado I give you "Starfox in: Halo the Flood Reborn."
Disclaimer: Do not own Starfox or Halo.
Starfox in: Halo the Flood Reborn
Chapter 1: Surprise, surprise
... computer online
(BEEP!)
great fox system online
error read 11083?er214jie+093
! WARNING
unable to recharge shielding system!
hull 45 percent damage
! WARNING
thrusters 90 percent damage
hyper drive 0 percent damage
weapon system... ...operational
"Is everyone alright?" a calm and in command voice asked. Red back up lights flickered on in the bridge of the flagship, Greatfox. The ship was a mess. Warning lights, indicating failed armor and massive hull damage, were beginning to flicker slowly back to life. The Starfox team picked themselves up off the floor, regaining their composure.
"Did we lose 'em, chief?" Falco Lombardi, a tall, blue feathered falcon, asked as he regained his balance.
"I can't tell yet. Slippy, run a sensor sweep." Fox McCloud, leader of the Starfox team, addressed his mechanic, a green skinned amphibian by the name of Slippy Toad.
Before the disoriented mechanic could manage an answer, a clear, feminine voice was heard from the corner. "Fox," Krystal the Vixen sounded worried, "they're still on us. I sense those unique thought patterns everywhere."
Krystal was a telepath. She had the ability to hear, but not quite read, thoughts of life forms around her, and was able to make uncannily accurate predictions. Sure enough, the computer in front of Slippy managed to flicker back to life. "Fox! She was right! Enemy signals closing fast. They're going to fire on us again!" Slippy shouted desperately.
(Not one hour ago)
The Starfox team had found themselves off course returning from a mission. They had been attempting to report back to General Pepper in the Lylat system, whom employed them. The team received a hail from an unidentified shuttle that was most obviously a warship. The voice was deep and harsh and the face that appeared on the viewing screen was a hideous looking creature with brownish skin and an overly muscular body, "Unidentified craft. You have entered Covenant territory. Surrender your ship, cargo, weapons, shuttles, and crew and we may discuss your lives. You have ten seconds to comply."
Fox, caught completely unaware, responded to the best of his ability, "We are on a diplomatic mission to the Lylat System and come to your territory through a navigational error. Please, we have no quarrel with you. Surly we can settle this through peaceful means?"
"Times up. Open fire." The screen went back to its display mode and all was silent for a moment, as if drawling a breath before a long dive...
"Fox! High impact projectiles headed straight for us!" Slippy yelled.
"Well, how do you like that?" Falco groaned.
"ROB, shields up!" Fox commanded the on bridge robot. ROB-64.
"AFFIRMATIVE" The AI had just enough time to comply before the first plasma burst hit Greatfox square in its starboard thruster. "UNIDENTIFIED WEAPON USE. UNABLE TO CONCOCT EFFECTIVE COUNTER STRIKE. SHIELDS ON STARBOARD THRUSTERS HAVE SUSTAINED INCREADIBLE AMOUNTS OF DAMAGE." ROB reported in his monotone voice.
"Fox, we have to get out of the way. There are more ships coming!" Krystal yelled.
"Come on get us out of here!" Falco shouted directly at Fox.
"Argh, forward thrusters on full! ROB, take evasive action. Time to do what we do best team."
"AFFIRMATIVE."
"Right!"
"Let's do this!"
Unable to reach the Arwings in the hanger the team had been forced to fight using only the mother ship. Greatfox had had no chance to outgun the more powerful crafts so they had been forced to run. The already damaged thrusters had been running on full for the past 45 minutes while Greatfox received more of the deadly accurate blasts from the alien spacecraft. They had finally thought that they might have outrun them, but their hopes had been quickly dashed. The squad had but one hope left...
(Back in the present)
"Slippy, is ROB operational?" Fox demanded.
"I'm rebooting him as we speak." he replied.
"Our hyper drive is unscathed right?" Fox didn't like the idea that was forming in his mind, but what choice did they have?
"Well, yes but it would take over fifteen minutes to plot out our navigation... Hey, Fox your not...?" Slippy started but Fox cut him off.
"Falco, manual override the steering. Try and buy us some time. Krystal? Give me a hand with this. We're making a blind jump." Fox had made up his mind as he stepped over to the navigational controls.
"What!?" Slippy sounded more than a little worried "Are you mad? We could end up uncountable numbers of light-years away from the Lylat system, or be put smack dab in the middle of a black hole and be infinity diminished through the fabric of the universe!" Slippy already knew it was hopeless to argue but he felt obligated to state his side of things anyway.
"Slippy is right. We might end up in a worse situation!" Krystal stated in a flustered tone. Slippy looked hopeful for a second knowing that if anyone could get Fox to make another decision it would be Krystal.
"The likelihood of that happening is very small." Fox sounded annoyed.
"EXACTLY 0.000000000000000034 MULTIPLIED BY TEN TO THE NEGITIVE 1029 POWER." ROB, who had just rebooted from the power failure, butted in.
"Besides, if anybody else has some bright ideas, now would be a good time to hear them."
The green amphibian looked crestfallen, "I wish Peppy hadn't retired. He always gave the right advice..." Slippy grumbled.
The attention of the Starfox team was snapped back as a plasma burst hit hull of the ship, this time on port side.
"Computer, open portal!"
a open portal. confirm action? Y/N
"Oh for the love of... yes, yes, yes!"
a opening portal
a unable to estimate parsec distance
quadrant unidentified
no anomalies detected
prepare for blind
Falco smiled unable to help himself. "Passengers, we are experiencing some slight turbulence. Please note the fasten seatbelt sign has been turned on. We assure you there is nothing to worry about, so sit back, relax, and enjoy the remainder of our flight."
Krystal rolled her eyes and fox groaned.
"You alright Slippy?" Fox asked.
"If wetting my trousers is okay then yes." The terrified Toad responded.
The jolt hit the ship suddenly with great force. The feeling of atoms being rearranged and put back together again was difficult to get use to. Greatfox had entered the portal and was on its way to an unknown destination and unknown trouble.
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The Covenant. The most hated creatures of the human race in existence. The Covenant was an alien race comprised of various intelligent species that had attacked a UNSC Marine outer colony world harvest about twenty-eight years ago in year 2525. The grunts, the lowest of low in the chain of command, were a small, almost dog like, methane breathing species. They stood on two legs and were always seen wearing the masks that covered their faces and allowed them to breath, unless someone had had the unpleasant experience of visiting their home world. In the Covenant military, grunts often had the worst job thinkable... ammunition fodder. Grunts were usually put in as forward rushers to waste enemy rounds while the big guns were brought in later.
Next were the jackals. They were a very prehistoric looking species with large red bulbous eyes and fined heads. They weren't much larger than grunts, but normally had superiority over them. The covenant military most comely used them as snipers and scouts. Usually not heavily armed at all, they carry only a plasma shield on a wristband, and their main weapon, with the exception of snipers.
The highest in command, until recently, are the Elites. A tall proud species, the Elites are the core fighting force of the Covenant military. The Elites are adapt at using every weapon in the Covenant armada and favor the full body plasma armor in contrast to the jackal energy shield. They are easily identified by their distinctive armor and oddly shaped mouths with lips split four ways, which had earned them the nickname "splitlips" among UNSC personnel. Stronger than any human and more technologically advanced it's not a wonder these creatures are held in such high respect.
Another alien used in the Covenant armada is the hunter. Hunters are more like living tanks than actually soldiers. Rather than being built similarly to the other Covenant species with an endoskeleton and central nervous system, Hunters are actually sentient beings made up of a conglomerate colony of orange symbiotic worms. The impenetrable armor that covers most their body makes this strange species the ultimate challenge to kill. Hunters were not originally part of the Covenant, but when threatened with a plasma bombardment of their planet, they were given no choice but to join them. However, they hold only the Elites in respect, and even resent the other classes, unsurprisingly.
Then there were the Brutes. The Brutes had caused much distress within the Covenant society recently. When a human Spartan called Master Chief had killed the High Prophet of Regret, the rest of high prophets had replaced the Elites with the berserk, unbelievably strong creatures known as the Brutes, saying that the Elites were incapable of protecting them any more. The Elites did not quite readily accept this new arrangement. It sparked the Covenant civil war known as the Great Schism between the "loyalists" and the "separatists." The loyalists consist of the Prophet Hierarchs, Brutes, Jackals, Drones, and some Grunts, which are commanded by the Prophet of Truth. The separatists, on the other hand, are led by the Arbiter. An Elite hero to some and heretic to others, the Arbiter had been employed originally by the High Prophets, but when the Great Schism had arisen, he had gone as far as to make an unsteady alliance with UNSC marine forces on Delta Halo, which enraged the loyalists. The separatists include the Elites, Hunters and most of the Grunts within their ranks. The Covenant couldn't have picked a worse time for a civil war, as they were still engaged in hot combat in the human wars. But something bigger was coming. Something bigger than the Covenant or humans or even the Starfox team. (...You remember the Starfox team... ... ... ...this fic is about the Starfox team...) The Covenant knew it too. The Flood. The parasitic life destroying creatures created on the ring planet known only as HALO. The Flood were created by the Forerunners and meant to wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy, yet the High Prophets refused to address the issue with force, instead saying that it was their duty to unleash the Flood in order to complete the Great Journey. This had lead to much debate and helped tare the Covenant apart.
On board the Loyalist flagship in hot pursuit of the Starfox team.
"Commander," the ruff and crackly voice of the alien Jackal was heard by the Brute commander on the covenant warship. "The unidentified battle cruiser is attempting to make a blind jump into slipspace. I doubt we'll be able to stop the jump. Set the fleet to pursue?"
Under normal circumstances the commander of the armada would have let the tattered ship go, but he had had a feeling about this. A very good feeling. The Brute stroked the ruff skin on his chin thoughtfully.
"Yes, prepare to pursue them..." the Brute commander ordered.
The Jackal pilot looked slightly surprised. He hadn't actually been expecting to pursue the strange ship. Seeing this the Brute smirked. "I believe this may be our lucky day. If I'm wrong, and I won't be, we will have lost nothing; but I believe that this blind jump may lead us to another of the Sacred Rings..."
The Jackal soldier looked questioningly at the Brute and said "Chances are if there is a Ring there sir, that rouge Arbiter will be right behind us..." The Jackle was cut off at the same time his air was. The Brute wrapped his fist around the Jackle's reptilian throat, "You will NEVER mention that name around me, understood? He killed my chieftain, Tartarus! If he is there, I'll squash him like the insignificant bug that he is!" He glared at the suffocating Jackle before releasing him. The Jackle coughed and managed to gag out, "A thousand apologies commander." before resuming his station. As the white craft made the jump into slip space the Covenant fleet quickly followed. The last thing the Brute commander thought before the jump was, "Who knows? Fate has a funny way of working things out..."
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A/N: I took this idea straight from Aeris' Savior's "Star Fox: Krystal's Plight" Every word of this is written only by myself (other than "You will NEVER mention that name around me, understood? He killed my chieftain, Tartarus! If he is there, I'll squash him like the insignificant bug that he is!"), but I give Aeris' Savior credit for the inspiration and original idea. Thanks bud! Oh, and drunkenwerewolf, I don't know how much work you did on the original but, you're included in this thanks.
BTW: If my Halo facts aren't exactly 100 percent accurate, I do apologize. I have limited resources when it comes to fact checking on that matter, but I will do my best.