Forging a Hero
Chapter 2: Pestilence
Authors Notes: Hey y'all, here is chapter two. And here comes the flood. I have been attempting to work on my combat dialogue and actions, trying to make I more interesting to read and to put more visuals in your head, making it the closest you'd probably ever saw it to actually happening or something. Also, I am aware that there is a certain make up for Elite's names, mainly how most Elite's last names end with "ee" however, as theorized by fans, after the Great Schism in which the Elite's left the Covenant they removed that part of their name to signify they're leaving the Covenant armada. Also I was not aware of the Elite-naming scheme when I created Zeibra (Zay-bra.) And Lev (Lehv.). Also, while the exact position of the Supreme Commander is speculated, it could be theorized it is a very high rank, possibly equal in status to what I call a "High Cheiftan" which would be a Brute near the status of Tarturus. The idea of him wearing the violet armor is taken from the Halo Graphic novel, even though the artists seemed to have taken several artistic liberties (Best example is the story about New Mombassa.) I assume an Elite of this stature would wear elaborate armor. While its been practically confirmed the current Arbiter was the Novels Supreme Commander, it remains unknown whether or not he, in Halo Canon, should have worn Zealot armor. Though it could be that the reason in the beginning of Halo 2 Bungie, due to the various time constraints, was unable to desghin his armor, also backed up by the overall craptastic-ness of the Brutes "armor" in Halo 2.
Sasha Evans walked beside Lev' Dunxeet and Zeibra Eilonu. Lev' carried Mark, with his Ranger Elite helmet discarded revealing his long, battle scarred, head. Zeibra's armor was no longer a brilliant silver and was scratched. Zeibra, had now become more outspoken and leader like with the death of his mentor. The door made a loud ding and a circular lock in the center spun a bit and the door opened revealing the dimly lit bridge. An Elite in brilliant violet armor was speaking with another Elite wearing nothing. Sasha starred at both the Elite's.
The Elite that had the armor on was about a few inches taller than most Elite's she had seen. The armor was a dark purple or violet, the helmet was like a normal one except the spikes on the back curved in various directions, and some thin plated armor went down the back neck of the Elite. A large and very long purple cape that was draped all around him hid the rest of its armor. The other Elite had many visible scars and burns from Plasma, and seemed to stand as tall as it is legs would allow it to. While the Elite's mandibles could not really give off signs of moods, such as frowns or smiles, this Elite seemed to be moving it's mandibles very hurriedly and proudly. The Supreme Commander put its fist to it's chest and said something in it's own language. The other Elite snorted and walked away.
Zeibra and Lev' kneeled behind the Commander, Zeibra putting his arm across his chest. Lev' keeping his eyes on either the floor or Mark, Sasha could not tell. The Commander turned and starred down on them. Then up at Sasha, then down at Mark.
"Stand, Ultra."
Zeibra stood and looked into the Commanders eyes.
"My subordinates have told me of your travels. Syren Nefrope was a brilliant Sangheili Field master, as well as a great tactician. It is a shame knowing he may have perished believing in the Prophets lies."
"It does sadden me. But now is not the time to dwell on our lost. Now is the time for planning."
"I suppose. But don't forget about your feelings. The loss of a comrade is saddening to all with sensible thoughts. I personally feel we should wait for the Arbiter's input, however we are short on time and for now are under our own juristriction. I am planning on ordering a few ships from my fleet to go to the Human homeworld, but I remain uncertain of how we should do this. The parasite has become active in High Charity; it's Oxygen vents spewing spores about the city. But this has also thinned Jiralhanae ranks. The Jiralhanae have not seen much active combat since their failure on the first Human world, but this means that Truth has most likely ordered every last reserved Jiralhanae to Earth. Also, you may stand know Ranger, and give that body to one of the Elite's by the wall there, they will take him to a temporary resting place."
Lev' stood and walked away with Mark. Sasha watched and took one last look at Mark before turning back to the Commander. Sasha walked up the Elite and stared up at it. The commander cast a curios gaze at her.
"So then what are we going to do? And what are you going to do to me," Sasha asked.
"I am going to rally two more ships and then we shall go to Earth. As for you, you wish to fight with us, correct?"
"Yes."
"Then you must learn about our weapons. You humans do not receive much training with our technology, do you?"
"All we know how to do is point and shoot."
The Commander let out a laugh. It was a scary thing to hear and it made Sasha very uncomfortable. The Elite looked down at Zeibra. "You and you're Ranger go to the Barracks."
Zeibra left with Lev'. The Commander called to another Elite in the Elite language and they spoke briefly. The new Elite nudged its head for Sasha to follow and she did. The Elite led her down a long series of corridors. She got glimpses of rooms that had Elite's training, to Hunter worms scurrying about. She saw some Engineers chattering about and repairing objects and weapons. She also saw a large window that on the other side was one of the ships Hunting preserves in which various species were walking about. Eventually they arrived in a hallway that each door glowed red and had a visible shield defending the door. Each doorway had a holopanel. The Elite stepped up to one of them and poked it a few times. The shield disappeared. It did this again and the glow became purple and the lock spun and opened.
The Sangheili Aristocrat, Zara 'Taram looked up at Sasha. Sasha recognized him as the naked Elite from earlier. The other Elite left, door shutting behind him. It was a brightly-lit purple room, with what looked like a bed, a hovering chair and beside that a large silver pole resided in the air above a Gravity Weapon Holder. The pole had, what Sasha assumed were, Forerunner glyphs and Sangheili writing engraved on it, along with a two solid black pressure pads in the center, activation triggers like the ones on an Energy Sword. Zara followed her gaze from his chair. He looked at the pole.
"When a Sangheili becomes heavily skilled in the practice of Energy Swords, we are allowed to become, Aristocrats. Aristocrats are given personalized swords of their own and are no longer eligible for marriage. However, we are free to bred with any female, whether they are married or not, in hopes of spreading our genes to the females offspring. Therefore, carrying on the swordsmen genes."
Sasha, upon hearing this was now glad the Elite wore armor, a bright set of silver armor, minus the helmet. Though the small lights on the armor glowed a bright orange and there were some shiny and pretty orange pads like additions to the armor. It was the armor of an Honor Guard Ultra, the leaders and most fiercest of the Covenant Honor Guards. He looked at her and sighed.
"So why have you come to me? If you were hoping for me to pass me genes onto you, I'm afraid I am in no mood to experiment."
Sasha smiled. Lev' and Zeibra were like most Elite's, all rough and tough. The Commander seemed a bit calmer and Zara seemed a lot more laid back. She liked the idea of the Elite's having a softer side. Though she probably did not realize that she liked the more laid back attitude of these two Elite's because it reminded her of Mark.
"I guess the Commander wants you to train me in the use of Covenant arms."
"Ah. Wise. I am highly skilled in the use of all Covenant weapons, Jiralhanae weapons, and even Human weapons. Such knowledge was one strike against me when I was named a Heretic."
"Heretic?"
"Yes. But now is not the time for tired stories, we must prepare for-"
Suddenly red lights began flashing on the ceiling and a strange siren like noise began ringing. Sasha heard what sounded like the Commanders voice, echoing in the room, presumably from speakers inside the walls. It spoke in alien tongue then stopped. Zara jumped up from his seat and grabbed the pole. He gripped it and a saber like energy beam came of the end. The Blade was curved on one side and straight on another giving it the look of an old Saber used on Earth back in more primitive days.
"Come human! A Flood ship is launching boarding crafts! We must prepare for battle!"
Zara seemed to smack a holopanel, causing the door to open. Zara rushed out and looked about in the hall. Sasha ran out after him and crouched behind him. She had no weapons and could not help much in fighting.
"Come human! We must reach the Commander!"
The Elite turned and ran down the hallway opposite that of the one that Sasha had took to get to Zara.
"Uh, isn't this the wrong way?!"
"The way we are taking is closer to one of the ships sides, that way we can help repel any boarders. The Flood is close to a Gravemind, I would wager that more than just Boarding crafts are coming to the Forever Restless." Another transmission echoed down the halls.
Zara roared.
"Ah-ha! I was right, the Flood have deployed Phantoms. Our fleets have destroyed the main ship and others but many more forms of transport remain." The hallway they were now running down was crammed with rushing Elite's; some with weapons, others without, running for armories.
"Wont it be hard for me to help without a weapon," Sasha asked narrowly dodging a running Elite. "If you are going to be helping us fight anything, you'll need to learn about fighting in desperate situations."
The ship shuddered a little. A few boarding crafts had gotten past the defenses of the ship and were lodged into it. The echoes of the Commander were now in a more distraught tone. A bulkhead door up ahead opened and an Elite Combat form leapt out of the darkness. It pounced down on an Elite knocking it over. The Combat form gave the Elite a good smack and jumped forward towards the other Elite's in the hall. Infection Forms now came from behind and scurried over the Elite. It let out a cry of pain as one of them burrowed into its skin and moved its innards about to make room for a small nest. The body of the Elite began to mutate and bulge and it's skin grew to a sickening gray pale. It got back up and ran to join its brothers. Zara cut down the infected Elite and others, stomping on passing Infection Forms. Sasha picked up a Plasma Rifle and began firing. It was a large weapon, a lot bigger than her arm was, but she managed to hold it and fire it in small busts. The Plasma burned through the Flood and damaged the Infection Forms inside of the Infected Elite's, as well as burning off vital limbs. The Plasma Rifle opened its vent and released blue steam. Sasha held her breath; she had heard rumors breathing that stuff gave people Borens Syndrome. She the vent closed and she pressed on with Zara.
They rounded a corner and found corpses of Elite's and Grunts. Limbs and blood covered the floor. Up ahead at a hallway intersection, two Hunters ran by the halls opening and into another. The halls echoed with the Commanders voice once again. Zara stopped and looked back the way they had came. The door shut and the lock spun to it's locked position and glowed red. Then some sparks came out from the lock.
"What is that?"
"The Commander…he is sealing the infected areas. Come, we must get out of this area."
They rushed up to the intersection, and turned right. As they ran, they occasionally heard the ding that marked the quarantine of another area. The turned down a hallway and saw that the lights here were flickering on and off. It was the only unlocked way, so they pressed forward. The lights flickered on for a moment, enough time to see something crawling on the floor ahead scurry across the floor.
"That smell, Flood, be careful. The Parasite has the ability to slowly degrade organs and bones inside of hosts until they are free to mutate it to their every whim. It is a Pure Form. A Stalker."
Sasha nodded. He damaged HUD had some trouble reading the weapon, but it said there was about 50 energy left in the Plasma Rifle. They reached the end of the corridor. The glow from there weapons lighting the dark tunnel. The door behind them closed and locked. Sasha heard what sounded like some kind of squeal and turned around. She looked around and saw nothing. But she heard some kind strange noise. A sick noise like the kind she heard when the Infection Forms mutated hosts. She then saw small glowing spikes rise up in the air and float in front of them. Sasha turned on her flashlight and saw a Ranged Pure Form. It fired spikes at them with rapid speed. She shouted and got on the ground. She fired her weapon to the point of over heating but could not hit the form due to its spikes keeping her from moving in order to aim. Zara ducked in front of her, his shields glaring as spikes bounced off of them, one breaking through and scratching off his armor. Zara thrust his spear forward and impaled the Pure Form. He lifted it up in the air as it squealed. He swung the spear down ward, the weight of the Pure Form pulling it off of the blade and thumping on the ground.
They soon found themselves back on the bridge. Lev' and Zeibra were looking on the main view screen. The Supreme Commander saw in the Captains chair and roared. "We are leaving. The Flood ships have been destroyed, and the forms on the ship have been killed and burned. Some managed to highjack vehicles and escape but that's alright, most if not all were wiped out by our fellow brothers." The ship rocked a bit and went into Slipspace.
Lev' walked over to Sasha. Enur 'Xalteen, the Commander, witnessed a view of your comrades body being infected and escaping in a Phantom with the Parasite. We are now inbound for space near Earth. I am sorry.
Sasha looked up at him with wide eyes. She dropped the Plasma Rifle and let it land on her foot without so much as a wince. The Flood had finally taken Mark away for good. Not only that, but the Phantoms that had survived the battle would later infect and infest a Covenant Ship and break through the Elite's quarantine.
Okay there is chapter two. I hope you enjoy it and forgive me for making the chapter seem a bit awkward at points but this is how I wanted it to be and it turned out well. The Flood will be back in the next chapter as well though and will play a bigger role, also, if you are wondering why the hell Enur gives a Drones ass about Sasha and her mission to get revenge, this will be explained a bit more thoroughly in the next chapter, as well as how Sasha will learn more about Covenant weapons and be able to handle them as well as any Elite could. Zara's background as to why he was labeled a heretic will be explained later, and why he was speaking with the Commander, in the beginning, given his own personal room, and why he was not executed for Heresy as is most common back in the good old days of the Covenant.
Special thanks goes to "forever restless" on who let me, use the name as the title for Enur's ship, and to deviantART, Halopedia, and Bungie.
Additional thanks to my friends on whose support helps me write these stories.
Some thanks to my good friend Zakuro, who broke my 360 and helped me realize how much Halo 3 kicks ass compared to Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2 which have the most eye sore graphics now.
No thanks to Xbox Live, which seems to be forever out of my reach