Halo: The Pinnacle of Light
Prologue: The Fist of Rukt
Where am I? The arbiter questioned himself, Was the Scarab too powerful? Did it block the entrance rather than clearing it? He sighed, exhaustion apparent on his face. His face underneath his helmet was burnt from plasma shots but his eyes still showed a fire of hatred, he was not yet finished, actually he was far from it. Turning the corner he spotted a door
"An exit, finally!" he murmured under his breath. The arbiter ran a quick eye over his unused beam rifle, a new but very effective weapon, before unhooking the plasma sword on his belt and fitting it into his hand. 30 charges left. Will I be able to force my way into the chamber with that?
Activating his active camo he stepped through the doors. Spotting a ramp on the right he made his way up it. Five Brutes charged through a door in front of him. One, wearing some stolen Honour Guards Armour, yelled
"Don't let the Arbiter into the chamber, the Chieftain must complete his holy work!"
You will be the first to die. Thought the Arbiter, He unstrapped two plasma grenades and took aim waiting for the opportune moment. In one quick movement, when his active camo shut down, he activated a plasma grenade and stuck it to the Brute. Aiming quickly he tossed the other grenade, sticking another Brute, before jumping back-wards as they detonated. Jumping of the ramp he swung at a Brute decapitating it, before quickly dodging a Brute that had gone rampant. He swung his sword at the passing Brute, hitting his exposed back and watched with a grim satisfaction as it collapsed bleeding into the wall.
The Arbiter turned, then ducked, when he heard two whoof's. Sure enough four more Honor guard Brutes had entered the chamber. Spying a hole in the floor he tensed his legs and jumped into it, a leap of over three meters. He hit the ground just as two Brute Shots exploded where he had been moments before. The Arbiter ran through a connecting tunnel toward the Brutes, while he activated his active camo. He saw another opening in the floor above him with three Brutes beside it. Fools he thought to himself, will they never learn? He unstrapped his last two human HE-DP 'frag' grenades and placed them on the floor between the Brutes, and, while ducking down, he heard the satisfactory bang. Deactivating his camo he leapt up and plunged his sword into two Brutes lying stunned on the floor shredded by shrapnel before turning to face his remaining opponent. The Brute turned and saw the Arbiter running toward him fired at him with his plasma rifle overheating it, The Arbiter, his shields half diminished, locked on and performed the fatal lunge attack, killing the Brute instantly.
The Arbiter dropped his now depleted energy sword, walked over to where he had killed the three grouped brutes and found what he was looking for, A human shotgun. Replenishing his plasma grenades from the dead Brutes he checked that his shield was full and his active camo generator ready. He was as the humans called it 'locked and loaded'. Turning around toward the open doors he walked through them and continued toward the control center.
Entering the gigantic room caused a feeling between awe and shame. How similar is this room to the other Halo's control centerer, yet how different also. A shout made him snap out and ahead he saw Tartarus with a human and an Oracle arguing. Seeing the Brute Chieftain, and four 'Honor' Brutes, his body shook uncontrollably with anger. You merciless beasts, you have no Honor in life and I shall see you have none in death. He pulled himself together,
"Tartarus stop!" He said.
"Impossible" Tartarus whispered turning around.
"Put down the icon" The Arbiter commanded.
"Put it down and disobey the hierarch's?"
"There are things about halo, even the hierarch's do not understand."
The four Brutes beside Tartarus growled and stepped forward,
"Take care arbiter what you say is heresy." Tartarus continued.
"Is it? Oracle, what is halo's purpose?"
"Collectively the seven..." 343 Guilty Spark began
"Grr not another word" interrupted Tartarus
"Please," Said a voice The Arbiter had heard only once before, "Don't shake the light bulb!"
Half-turning he saw a human behind him with another beam rifle. He must of followed me after driving the Scarab The Arbiter summarized I could use that rifle.
"hurgh." The Brutes growled
"If you want to keep your brain inside your head tell those boys to chill" The Human said lifting up his beam rifle.
"Carlgh" muttered Tartarus in his native tongue
"Go ahead, do your thing." The human said to The Arbiter.
"The sacred rings what are they?" The Arbiter asked 343 Guilty Spark.
"Weapons of last resort, built by the forerunners, to eliminate potential flood hosts, thereby rendering the parasite harmless."
"And those who made the rings, what happened to the forerunners?"
"After exhausting every other strategic option they, my creators, activated the rings. They and all additional sentient life within 3 radii of the galactic center died, as planned. Would you like to see the relevant data?"
"Tartarus, The prophets have betrayed us." The Arbiter said hatred running through his voice.
Tartarus paused then in anger grabbed 343 Guilty Spark and threw it at the male human, knocking him over.
"No arbiter." He turned round pushed the female humans hand down onto the index and begun the activation of Halo. "The great journey has begun and the Brutes not the elite's shall be the prophets escort."
The platform in the center spit into three parts. A massive stream of air pulsated through the center of each of them forming a massive gravity lift. Tartarus activated his weapon the mighty Fist of Rukt covering himself in its shield. When he saw the Arbiter running at him with some elite's that had caught up with him and the human male, he jumped onto the middle platform.
The Arbiter, with the help of the elite's, quickly dispatched the four Brutes that had been with Tartarus. He then jumped onto a moving platform whilst the Elite's followed Tartarus. The sight of the elite's that had chased Tartarus being killed with a single blow of the hammer grieved him, he quickly forbid anymore to jump down though many ignored it. The pride of the Elites was at stake.
"Charging sequence initiated, primary generators coming online" 343 Guilty Spark said.
"Well shut them down!" The female human who had been Tartarus's prisoner said.
"Apology. Protocol does not let me interfere with any aspect of the sequence."
"Then how do I stop it"
"Well it will take some time to go over the proper procedures I would…"
"Quit stalling" Interrupted the female human.
"Under more controlled circumstances I would suggest the reclaimer simply remove the index." Carried on 343 Guilty Spark.
"That's it? Johnson I'm on it." The human female said to the other human.
"Hang tight ma'am not until that Brute is dead." The human male, Johnson, commented. Before shooting Tartarus with the beam rifle to prove his point. "Hey Mohawk how'd that feel?" He taunted.
"Secondary generators charging, all systems are performing well within operational parameters." 343 Guilty Spark carried on,
"His shield is down let him have it!" Johnson yelled. Aiming quickly he emptied three quick bursts into Tartarus causing no visual effect to his muscular body all he got were mindless taunts.
"Lucky hit you will not land another" and a few seconds later, "Want revenge? Here I am, come and take it."
Though not because of what Tartarus had said he prepared to leap down onto the middle platform. Time is running out and fast.
"The power generation phase complete. The instillation is ready to fire, starting final countdown now," 343 Guilty Spark said.
"Come on Arbiter, kick that guys arse!" Johnson encouraged.
Useless piece of junk, The Arbiter thought, putting down his beam rifle before snatching it up again to snipe two brutes that had jumped onto the platform.
"And may I say reclaimer's, it has been a pleasure to serve you both, goodbye."
"There goes his shield" Commented Johnson.
"His hides to thick, This does no damage on him." The Arbiter yelled placing the beam rifle on his back and grabbing the shotgun, "Keep hitting his shields." He posed ready to jump and saw Tartarus preparing himself, looking over to some Elite's that had obeyed his order he yelled
"Grenade's on my mark" he paused then "Mark" Plasma grenades soared through the air landing around Tartarus, One, Two. The Arbiter jumped. Mid-air the grenades exploded giving him extra lift and pushing Tartarus backwards. Then, just as the Arbiter landed two beams of light hit Tartarus overloading his shields again.
"Got his shields hit him now!" Johnson remarked.
Dodging the enraged Brute he stepped round behind him, pressed the shotgun into his back and fired once, twice, three times and just for good measure a forth time. The human weapon, which excelled in close quarter combat, didn't fail him here. Tartarus's chest was torn open from the rounds of buckshot; there was no way he could still be alive.
He stepped back as much in shock as in safety for his life just in time to avoid missing The Fist of Rukt. A wave of energy swept past him pushing him back a few meters He is not dead, impossible. Tartarus turned and advanced. He is going to jump. Tartarus jumped. Whipping the beam rifle from his back he sent three bursts of light straight at the flying Tartarus overloading the beam rifle and Tartarus's shields. Two more beams of light attending to do the same thing burst into Tartarus causing his reflexes to put his head forward. The Arbiter jumped forward seeing his chance, dropping the beam rifle and grabbing his shotgun mid flight. He took aim one… two… three shots impacted Tartarus's head. Moving slightly he missed the Fist of Rukt by inches and grabbed onto some of The Chieftains hair. No shields. Swinging onto his enemies back he activated a plasma grenade stuck it onto Tartarus's head. Leaping of Tartarus he sent one round of buckshot into Tartarus's neck and another at his head. Tartarus slumped forward just as the grenade exploded flinging The Arbiter into a pillar.
He then remembered that he killed Tartarus for a purpose, and turning around, saw the female human snatch the index from the control panel. The three platforms shuddered and a beam of light shot out of the top of the control room. It travelled into the gathering cloud of energy that was forming in the centre of the ring. The cloud then expanded and shrunk leaving no trace of ever being formed. Back in the chamber a holographic orb appeared behind the control panel and the woman asked.
"What's that?" to which 343 Guilty Spark replied
"A beckon"
"What is it doing"
"Communicating at super luminal speeds with the frequency of…"
"Communicating with what?" interrupted the woman.
"The other installations."
"Show me," a chart appeared on a holo-panel showing seven rings of different sizes, three were purple whilst the other four smaller ones were green. One of the green ones had red writing beside it.
"Failsafe protocol. In the event of an unexpected shut down, the entire system will go to standby status. All remaining platforms are now ready for remote activation." 343 Guilty Spark continued,
"Remote activation, from here?" asked the woman,
"Don't be ridiculous." Came a curt reply in 343 Guilty Spark's patronising tone.
"Listen tinker bell don't make me..." Johnson began angrily, showing his beam rifle, before the Female intervened.
"Then where? Where would someone go to activate the other rings?"
"Why the ark of course."
"And where oracle is that?" Said the Arbiter moving between the two humans.
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Above Halo, floating dead in space, lay the Covenant holy city of High Charity. On the surface all was silent and eerie, stagnant pools of different coloured blood were starting to congeal. A door, to an 'outside' area was swinging open and closed loudly, in jerky movements. Long green tentacles appeared from inside the structure wrapping round the door jamming it.
Inside the Throne room more tentacles were moving toward a pedestal and an eerie voice coming from the source of the tentacles spoke.
"Silence, fills the empty grave, now that I, have come, but my mind, is not at rest, for questions, linger on, I, will ask, and you, will answer."
Suddenly the pedestal burst into life. An Artificial Intelligence, called Cortana, appeared. She held out a digital hand to stop the tentacles from touching her, and said.
"Alright, Shoot!"
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