Prologue
PLEASE READ: Please Note this story WILL contain violence, sexual content and adult themes, please do not continue if you find these things offensive and are under the age of 18.
Authors Notes: For the general art style of my fanfiction, since Halo art style changes a lot I will go with Halo: Wars for the Marines, (Use cutscenes as reference) For the Covenant I will use Halo: Reach as the art style.
Humanity is at war with a genocidal alien alliance known as the Covenant. This war began in February 3rd, 2525. Little did we know that it would go so wrong. At first the war seemed winnable, that the enemy had severely underestimated our capabilities, and we overestimated theirs. But this sadly was not true, as human world after world fell, Harvest, Reach, and in time even Earth. While the Covenant would be officially disbanded when the sangheili were betrayed and a civil war broke the Covenant apart, it was far to late and humanity had already lost Earth. Thankfully the actions of Spartan 117, Sergeant Avery Johnson, and rebel elites, the Halo rings were prevented from firing, and the Ark along with the flood destroyed. While the Covenant rages its own war against one another humanities survival still hangs in the balance. As Earth is a war torn wasteland. Whatever life might still be there is the last of human survivors, refusing to give in, and Covenant forces abandoned on the planet during the civil war. While not all human colonies were attacked during the great war, they certainly would be now. Humanities last colonies grouped together to form their own coalition, seeing as the UNSC was destroyed. As the Covenant fragmented into many large factions, this hope that humanity might survive and reclaim its homeland was once again ignited into the hearts and minds of young and old alike. We began to search for new worlds, worlds where no Covenant were, safe worlds where humanity could once again rebuild and prosper. Thankfully we were lucky, several solar systems, not discovered by the Covenant were found and colonized, all human worlds under the banner of the United Colonies, or UC for short. Increasing humanities population was a major goal of the UC, this meant more soldiers could be trained, more crew for ships, more farmers to toil the fields, more miners to operate equipment, etc. the UHC at this current time has a population of 7 billion across 12 solar systems, each solar system has every planet,moon and planetoid possible colonized. The UC also has built a new fleet, modeled after the original UNSC fleet and prototype blueprints the UC has been able to make their ships equal to that of the Covenant, no longer is the 3-1 numerical advantage needed. the UC has recently construed Infinity class capital ships aswell as 50 Autumn Class Heavy Cruisers. All ships of the UHC are equipped with a much more resilient and compacted titanium plating, being 200% more effective, aswell as energy shielding. Human ships tend to be smaller than Covenant ones, and also much faster with new engines reversed engineered from forerunner technology. In total the UC has 600 ships, 5 capital class ships, 200 frigates, 300 cruisers and 100 support ships, a new class in the human navy. But if this fleet was to be discovered and destroyed then all hope for humanity's survival is at an end. UC is also working on an exo suit for mainline soldiers based off of the Mjolnir armours aswell as reverse engineered forerunner technology, but for now common soldiers but do with heavily improved great war technology for protection.
Vancouver, Earth, 2596, March 12th, 0800 hours, UNSC Military Calendar.
Mariana looked through the scope of her BR55 Service Rifle, better known as the Battle Rifle. A 100 metres infront of her was a Jackal clan leader, and directly infront of that jackal was her own leader, David Maceth. The two were negotiating terms for peace. Mariana thought to herself, that after so much bloodshed, so much violence and pointless loss that there could finally be peace. At least peace with this particular clan. You see Earth is now a vastly different place than it used to be before the great war. Once the Covenant split up things got a little heated back at Earth, all the Covenant left behind got a little angry as to why they were left here and began to blame it on each other. Their union quickly shattered and they turned to tribal infighting. Every species you could imagine was here, from the native humans to the legendary sangheili. All had a claim to a piece of land here, Earth was not the same. Mariana panned the battle rifle across the horizon, looking for any jackal threats she could find, but all she could see were ruins of a bye gone age we all wanted to return. It seems that this clan really does want peace. Of all the species that have settled here on Earth Mariana liked the jackals the most. They were the ones always ready to talk if it benefited them, and this talk of peace benefited both of us greatly for we were both fighting a war on two fronts fighting each other. A local brute Warlord is seeking plunder and bloodshed, and this is a very big threat to Mariana's people. The Brutes may be greatly outnumbered but they're armed and dangerous. The jackals on the other hand are facing the possibility of war with another jackal clan, and would like to end their war with the humans incase that one escalates. Mariana panned her battle rifle back to the two leaders, they looked at each other uneasily and shook hands, it seems a deal has been met and that peace has been established. she stood up slowly, mud covered the front of her body, after laying there for several hours her body had gotten stiff. She put down her Battle Rifle and gave a quick stretch and stared off into the distance, before picking it back up and making her way back to the town. It would be a two hour trek back, knee deep in mud and she had to get back before night fall. It was never truly safe on Earth anymore, especially at night when small packs of grunts would scavenge like the dogs of old Earth, looking for anything they could get their hands on. Mariana continued to walk through the desolate wasteland, abandoned buildings falling apart, pieces of concrete and metal slowly breaking off, most of it was already piles of rubble, and the buildings that weren't were soon to be next. Nature had also reclaimed its territory, many of the cities buildings, roads, and piles of rubble flourished with life. Mariana continued to walk through the city at a fast walking pace, not wanting to hold the others up at the rendezvous position. Her long blonde hair that went down a little bit more than halfway of her back flowed in the wind as she walked. Her bright blue eyes sparkled in the fading sunlight as she continued to advance through the city, with her barrel rifle attached to a strap and slung over her right shoulder. The mud on her clothes began to dry, she sighed with discontent. Eventually she got to he rendezvous destination. It was an old water fountain, all dried up and covered with cracks, you could see plasma scorch marks on the sides of it too, there must of been a firefight here during the days of old Earth, the good days Mariana thought, the days grandparents often told stories of and yet they did not want to see how the world was now, I guess it is very depressing, to fight so hard for something to only lose it. Mariana squeezed her fist with rage, she felt like smashing something, hitting something, she hated the thought that all of this suffering was caused by the Covenant, that they did all of this and destroyed their way of life, and almost the human race, and she hated them dearly for it. A few moments later David, their leader appeared in the distance, and from all directions the rest, in total 12 of us. Mariana had beat them all here. Everyone hugged with glee for the fact that peace has been secured, they congratulated David as we walked back to the town. He told them of how the Jackals were kean on peace and how both sides would keep their current lands, and maybe in due time an alliance could be born, for once thing didn't look so bad for the everyone. When they got back to town it was almost dark, it was in a forest, near the outskirts of the ruined city. It was a kilometre squared with a large electric shock fence for a perimeter, guard towers were placed every 50 metres and constantly manned by two guards. They approached the front gate and it slowly opened from a control tower on the right side of the gate on the inside of the electric fence. They walked in, and everyone was eager to hear the news, of weather or not peace had been settled. Mariana knew this answer so she continued to walk through the town. The buildings were on every side of her, small one story buildings, meant for 1-4 people, usually two or three rooms including the bathroom. Excited people walked on all sides, rushing over to the gate to find an answer they desperately seeked, while the elderly were being helped at a slow pace to get there aswell. David stood infront of a few thousand people, the town has 5000, and roughly 1500, from what he could make our had come to hear it personally, rather than on the towns microphone system. A soldier approached David and handed him a microphone. David for the first time in a very, very long time had felt happiness, peace had finally come at last. Mariana got to her house after several minutes of walking, it resembled a tin box with a few windows and a steel door rather than a house. She walked in, it was dark and cold, the fire must of gone out when she was gone. She flipped the light switch beside the inside of the door, the room lit up. Mariana lived alone, she didn't mind it, all her family was dead so she got used to being alone. The first room was just a small kitchen and dining room hybrid. She had a fridge, stove, cupboards, oven, toaster all of it along the walls directly infront of the door. While a small table for two to sit at was near the left side of the door. She walked into her washroom. She turned the light on once more, it was a small and narrow room with a tile floor. The Insides generally looked much nicer than the outside. There was a washer and dryer lined up against the right side of the wall, with a sink and mirror close to the door, while a toilet was at the end, a small shower blocked the view of the toilet. She looked into the mirror, she was covered in mud, she sighed. She stripped off all her clothes, down to her shoes and threw them all into the clothes washing machine and put it on heavy duty. She put her shoes on the floor, she would clean them later. She looked at herself again in the mirror, she realized it had been a long time since she got to relax and have a nice shower. Her entire body was lean and fit, not too many muscles but fit like some one who ran a lot. Her entire body was clean shaven from her face to her toes, the only hair on her body was her head, and she liked to keep it that way. She wasn't very tall at all, measuring a staggering five foot, six inches. She dragged her worn out body to the shelter, not having slept for 22 hours, being on look out, waiting for the jackal leader then having to wait for them to finnish peace talks really did tire her out. She stepped into the shower and grabbed the knob, turning it on, hot water poured out and Mariana sighed with content as the hot water poured down onto her face and slid down her body. Nothing ever did feel as good as a nice hot warm shower after a long day in the mud. She cleaned her body off with soap and rinsed her hair out with shampoo. After that she gave herself some time to relax in the shower, eventually turning it off and stepping outside. She slowly crept across the tile floor and grabbed a towel from a hanging rack above her clothes drying machine. She wrapped it around her body, from the top of her breats to just above her knees it wrapped around her, tightly hugging her figure. She walked to the last room of her house, it was small, maybe 10 feet by 10 feet, big enough to fix a small bed, and a dressor in there. She didn't even get dressed, instead she just fell flat onto her bed and fell asleep.
Pike Solar System, Orbit of Nychaw, Human Colony, Outer UC controlled space, 300 light years from Earth, 2596, March 12th, 0800 hours, UC Military Calender.
Admiral Jamison Phyrus stood in his observation deck aboard his capital ship, the Snowbound, the Snowbound was a heavily modified Autumn Class Heavy Cruiser, the UCSC (United Colonies Space Command) did not see fit to give him a proper capital ship such as the Infinity Class, but instead a heavily modified Autumn Class Heavy Cruiser, which he did not mind. Instead of being outfitted with One Mac Cannon that could fire three shots, it would outfitted with three that could each fire three shots before recharging. The ship was also 1500 metres longer, 600 metres wider, and 400 metres taller. The Ship was bolstered with double the point defence guns and archer missile pods, making it one heck of a ship to take down. Combined with 8 metres of titanium steel, able to achieve a fast speed due to the reversed engineered forerunner engines which all UC naval ships were equipped with, enabling more titanium, with an improved speed. In addition to defence there was also the standard energy shielding equipped with all UC naval combat ships. The Fleet he commanded consisted of 61 ships, Phyrus hoped it would be enough, to stop the impending danger. 15 Autumn Class Heavy Cruisers made up a bulk of his line power. Followed by 20 Thantoss Class Destroyers, armed with double mac guns, capable of firing each three times before reloading, as were all UC combat naval vessels armed with the MAC. Next were the four Kurdesh Carriers. Kurdesh Carriers were very large slow moving "Space Fortress" as they were nick named. They boasted 6 decks, 5 of these decks being massive hanger bays for hundreds of fighter and bomber spacecraft. A total of 500 Skyswords, the UCSC (United Colonies Space Command) equivalent of the longsword and shortsword hybrid, boasting both of their fighter and bomber capabilities, packed with more titanium, energy shielding and a better engine it makes these fighter-bomber space craft give the enemy a run for their money. Phyrus looked down unto the Nychaw, the capital planet of the Pike solar system. It was a large developed planet, boasting 800 million citizens, known for its very nice beach resorts, a favourite for tourists, it also boosts the biggest titanium production for the UC, producing 40% of all titanium under UC control. Making it a very important planet, while a reinforcement fleet led by Admiral Reo Dilarus is en route, they would not be here in time before the Covenant arrived, or what Admiral Phyrus thought was the Covenant. In Truth the Covenant was nothing what it once was, it was a collapsed empire, split between 8 major factions, and many warlords vieing for of them competing for power over a galaxy they were slowly destroying with their useless war. Admiral Phyrus knew none of this, no one did en fact. While the UC lurked off into space, running and hiding from the Covenant they had been so infused with getting humanity back onto its feat, researching new technologies and building up their strength they had been foolish to ignore one vital operations of defence, espionage. They knew nothing of the current affairs of the outside world, for all they knew the Covenant could of dissolved decades ago, or remained strong, they knew nothing. Thankfully it split, with the great schism the idea of the Halo rings bringing transendance to all true believers was thrown away once the Sangheili were betrayed. After that the Covenant broke into several factions, lead by different rulers and species, some still hated the humans and wanted to kill them on sight, some were indiffrent, some respected them for their courage in battle, but no one was eager in wiping out the human species. Phyrus felt for the first time in a long time, fear, fear of what would come to his people, to humanity if he did not stop the Covenant here, he knew what they would do, he heard the stories, seen the videos, read the history books, he knew, no one would be spared, not a soldier, not a civilian, not even a child, none were spared from their wrath, none. If the listening post was correct, then a large Covenant fleet was decending onto Pike, estimated at 80, maybe closer to 100 ships, only their arrival would tell. Phyrus had a game plan, according to the simulations their ships were now toe to toe with the Covenant, but would that be enough? He would need to win a victory, he didn't know what he was up against, and he had to count on the hope his enemy didn't either. He hopes they had jumped the gun on their attack, he hoped. The rest of his fleet was a mix of Paris Class Heavy Frigates and Strident Class Frigates. His plan was some what simple. In the estimated slip space exit zone the Covenant would arrive in, he positioned 40 havock nukes, his Autumn Class Heavy Cruisers would face the enemy head on, while his Thanton Class Destroyers would be to their left and right flank, as his frigates would attack the enemey flanks, as well as his 2000 sky swords while the Kerdesh Carriers themselves would remain behind the line of Autumn Class Heavy Carriers. His plan was to take down the Covenants shields, with mass of MAC Fire, archer missile pods, and skyswords. Once the majority of their fleets shields were down he would remote detonate his havock nuclear bombs, destroying the Covenant fleet. To keep losses at a low he had to attack with everything at once, break the enemies shielding as soon as they come out of slip space, detonate the havock nukes, and pick up the stragglers. On paper this plan should go quite well, but only time would tell.
Solar System Sol, Sword of Justice, orbiting Earth, March 13th, 1000 hours, Sangheili Military Calender.
Ruktas Rha' looked down the narrow dark purple metallic hallway, it was smooth and sleek, and he knew this would most likely be the last time he ever saw it. He slowly moved down the walkway, his feet clanking on the metallic floor. Ruktas was being exiled for his crimes, his crime was questioning the decision of his clan leader to execute humans they had captured during a raid on Mars. A once proud and noble human world, turned into nothing but a divided planet with many factions warring for supremacy over a rock. For this he was being made an example for all those who would question their place. Earth ever since the ending of the great war would be used as a place, amongst all Sangheili to send their exiled, if Ruktas could get back to his clan after being exiled to Earth then his honour was restored, if he could not then he would be shamed and forgotten, as almost every sangheili before him who was exiled to this forsaken world had. Once he got to the end of the hallway he put his hand on a control console, pushed a few buttons, marked with sangheili runes, and the circular door opened, as the door retreated into the wall. He stepped into the escape pod, turning to look down the hallway once more. Three sangheili stood at the end, one was the clan leader, the other two his most trusted advisors. Ruktas put his hand on the control console inside the escape pod, the escape pods door began to close, as Ruktas turned his back on the clan leader and walked to the front of the escape pod. Inside it was all metallic purple, same as in the Sword of Justice, his clans flag ship. The floor was flat, but the walls above him curved in like a half circle. On Either side were many empty seats, as he made his walk to the very end there was a pilots chair, Ruktas sat in it. Once he was sitting a holographic keyboard and three windows appeared infront of him. The middle one showed the view of the ship from front exterior, the one to the left showed the ships "vitals" if you will. Oxygen levels, hull damage sustained, shielding, speed of the escape pod, etc. While the right side showed how many passengers occupied the ship, it was also used for communications. Ruktas put his hand on a holographic control stick infront of him. He pressed down onto the button and it fired the escape pod from the ships clutches, sending him hurtling towards Earth. The view was beautiful, the big blue and green planet, with white clouds shielding his view. He felt a bit of regret for what his species had done to this world.