Halo: Forerunners

[Canis Lycaon]

IC: Matthew Formigan [Earth-13:26]

Matt grabbed the phone from the hands of the translator and said, "Two things. The first is that we do not specifically require your assistance. Instead, we need your forces. Your branch of the Covenant would be a valuable ally in our fight. The second thing is that we do, indeed have something of great importance being taken by the Storm Covenant."

 

"It is called the Janus Key. If has two halves, and when they are joined together, it will activate a map of all Forerunner technology in the galaxy. This includes the Greater Ark, every Halo instillation. Everything. If the Storm Covenant gets both halves, they will be unstoppable."

 

"We used to have one half, and then it was taken from us. The Storm now has both halves of the Key. We cannot let them activate it."

 

IC: Meredith Black [uSC Infinity-13:26]

Meredith got up with a brace around her leg. She charged the Scattershot, picked up a couple of grenades, and ran out of the armory, heading towards the Didact's Vengeance.

 

IC: Chel 'Zacan [sanghelios- 13:26]

Chel fired off his somewhat old Plasma Repeater into a Jackal, and ran over near the Arbiter, shooting around him. The Arbiter appeared to be in a minor stage of shock, so Chel kept his distance, while still remaining close to his leader.

 

He saw a Hunter, and pulled out his Energy Sword. He ran up, and plunged into the Hunter, scattering it's worms and killing it swiftly.

[Axilus Prime]

IC - Sanghelios - 13:27

 

The Covenant onslaught today was smaller than usual. The only thing out of the ordinary that had shown up was a Scarab. The Arbiter flashed out of view and crouched, walking out of his cover and behind a broken wall. He deactivated his camo, then reactivated it when he reached the edge of the wall. He was now able to approach a Zealot from behind.

 

The Zealot noticed the blue dots on his radar too late, as he felt someone jump on him from behind, tackle him to the ground, and pierce his brain with an energy dagger from his wrist. The Arbiter ran as fast as he could, leaping away from a Fuel Rod, and got behind cover. "There is never only one Hunter, Chel. But thank you." He responded to Formigan's transmission. "The Covenant seem to have diverted many resources to you. I suppose I could send some help."

 

A key delivering power beyond even Truth's wild imaginings...Truth. He hated that name. One who built his empire on lies did not deserve it. And yet, the word truth was now something of a curse word among the Sangheili. The once-good word had been smeared by the treacherous worm.

 

He opened another comm. "Rtas! Mobilize some ships to aid the Infinity as you see strategically fit! Our allies need assistance. Don't let 'Mdama get away until they say it is safe. He holds the key to unlocking a map to all the Forerunners' power."

 

OOC: All right, Basilisk, that would be your department. Yes, everyone, he gets to use all species right off the bat and play as Rtas. He was going to be staff originally, after all, and I'd say he deserves it.

 

IC - UNSC Infinity - 13:27

 

As Meredith reached the hangar bay, the pilot stopped her. "Hold up, Spartan." He tossed her a medkit. "That ought to help more than the brace. Get fixed up, double time, and get yourself anything you need!"

 

The hangar bay heated up, as did the rest of the ship. What wasn't being outright razed, which was thankfully most of the ship despite the fact that the percentage was dropping, was being heated. The glassing beams were melting through the top of the Infinity, and the frigates outside were no match for the Covenant Battlecruisers.

 

Only one of them could still fire, but a proton missile slammed into the ship's bridge, incapacitating it as well.

 

The Shipmaster of the Battlecruiser glassing the Infinity's midsection pressed a button, activating some in-ship comms. "Shundasin jure dokon mu rakindotan, dumaion kanias adane."

 

The Battlecruisers diverted some power to their turrets, wearing the Frigates down with several explosions. With their shields down, they were helpless to resist.

 

Lasky monitored the situation. "Send them backup."

 

"We're out of frigates, sir." A Marine was very near the edge of panic.

 

Lasky cursed. "We need to move down!" Fire began to sear the ceiling and melt right through, meaning the bridge and its controls would soon be down in heaping piles of molten slag. Only the backup controls were available now, and the bridge crew ran to them.

[Makuta of Time]

OOC: Time to enter some real combat.

 

IC:

"This Spartan number 363 reporting for duty," he said to Earth Command. "I am on route to the Janus Key, send backup immediately." 363 cut off communications and jumped into a fighter. He started the ignition and made his way to the Vengeance.

[Canis Lycaon]

IC: Matthew Formigan [Earth-13:27]"Thank you." Matt put the phone down and said, "We got the Arbiter. Now we just need some more UNSC ships to come help the Infinity. We cannot let them use the Key." One person stood up and activated a holographic map of the Infinity and the Vengeance. A small red dot was flashing in the Vengeance. The person said, "That is the Key. We attached a tiny locator to it."IC: Meredith Black [uNSC Infinity-13:27]In the Vengeance, Meredith was shooting at all of the nearby forces, who were mostly Grunts. She looked and saw a group of Promethean Crawlers, and at the same time, they noticed her. She pulled out a grenade, and threw it into the beasts. It killed most, and she shot at the remaining ones with her Shattershot.

[Havelock Vetinari]

IC (Rtas)

 

The Infinity was in trouble, that much was plain. The Arbiter would not have deployed him if the humans were doing anything that remotely resembled holding the line. Rtas was not immune to the irony of this situation, he was rushing to the rescue of humans, a race he would have exterminated mere decades earlier. He had a sizable fleet at his command, with the Covenant Remnant's vessels already battle-weary, he anticipated a quickly victory. Emerging directly to the side of the battle, Rtas nodded as he surveyed the scene before him. "Focus all fire on the Vengeance Aim for the engines. Plasma torpedoes and turrets. Scramble fighters and boarding craft. They must not be allowed to escape."

[ZTG]

IC: ZacThe red and black Spartan was luckily and unluckily not missing out on the action. Currently he was in a hallway, dodging the shots of an Elite he was currently fighting. He had his shotgun in hand, and waited for the right moment to blast its head off.IC: Yipjap:The Uggony began following the orders of Rtas, in one of their plasma turrets and started to fire at the locations his commander was pinpointing at. He felt his whole body shake as he fired away, the recoil being a bit much for his size. This was a bit of a problem he always had.

[Light]

IC: Johnson doctored his wounds with a medkit, waiting for an opportunity to get on a boarding vessel. Spartans always went first. Evidently, the command didn't think normal marines could handle this too well.

 

IC: Beth, on the other hand, picked up her rifle and jumped into a fighter. Space combat was more her thing. Much more removed from the action.

[Ehksidian]

IC: Mitch Kvenski [uNSC Infinity, 13:29]

Mitch was having a bad day. Although, considering how horribe the attacks were upon the Infinity earlier and especially the current ones, who wouldent be having a bad day?

He sprinted through battle-damaged hallways, littered with Marine, Grunt, and even a few Spartan and Elite corpses, trying to reach the hangar as quickly as possible. He reached a pair of doors, and spoke into his comms, "Private Kvenski. What is the current status on vehicles in the hangar to board the Vengance?"

Edited April 16, 2013 by The X

[Canis Lycaon]

OOC:

X, um, you might want to change that time. You just had a time jump of twenty minutes compared to every one else.

 

IC: Meredith Black [uSC Infinity-13:30]

The female SPARTAN pressed up against the wall. She whipped around a corner and fired a round from her Scattershot. The hard light bullets hit an Elite and killed it. She moved slowly down the hallway, holding her Shattershot.

 

Then, a map of the Vengeance appeared on her HUD. A small dot was flashing. A voice came over the radio of her helmet. "Hello fellow SPARTANs. I am Matthew Formigan, a Spartan 1.1. The dot you see in the map of the Vengeance on your HUD is the Janus Key. Retrieve it."

 

Meredith started running, wielding her Shattershot.

 

IC: Matthew Formigan [Earth-13:30]

Matt put down the phone. All of the council was looking at him. One spoke up. "You're a Spartan 1.1? A child of a SPARTAN-I?" Matt smiled and said, "What of it? And both of my parents were SPARTAN-Is, not just one. I don't get what is so surprising. I'm only one of sixteen children of SPARTANs to have ever been born."

 

The council got over their shock. One spoke up. "We need a backup. A failsafe." Matt said, "How about a NOVA bomb?" The council looked at each other. One said, "I don't think we actually have authorization to do that."

[Makuta of Time]

IC:

"Attention all Spartan and allied forces on the Vengenace. I'm heading in for a strike to get back the key. If you want to join meet in the hangar area."

 

Ace cut off the comms, and headed into the hangar of the Vengeance. He fired upon the Covenant fighters before landing. He then fired the Broadsword's guns on the incoming Covenant and Promethean Forces. He then popped open the cock pit, and fired and the grunts, elites, crawlers, jackals, and knights in the hangar.

 

He ran around the hangar in figure eights, shooting, and melee any forces close to him.

[Canis Lycaon]

IC: Benjamin Grimpen

The five ODSTs popped out of the air and began firing at the forces in the hangar. Ben moved over to Ace and said, "Hello. The name is Ben Grimpen, these guys are Rex, King, Wood and Stone. We operate as a strike team already. Ben then pulled out a very small holotank.

 

From it appeared a map of the Vengeance. There were two dots. One green and one yellow. Ben said, "The yellow one is us. The green one is the Janus Key."

 

IC: Meredith Black

The female SPARTAN-IV started moving back, firing off rounds from her Scattershot at the waves of Grunts that were approaching. She was covering another SPARTAN-IV taking yet another to safety. The injured one had been badly shot in the leg. Much worse than Meredith had.

 

The trio passed a door, and Meredith slammed her fist into the controls, shutting it. The four augmented humans continued to move back to the Infinity.

[Makuta of Time]

IC:

"Nice to see some ODTs from time to time. Names Ace. Ace "Hardlight"." Ace looked at the map, analyzing it. "It would be nice to know what's inside the halls, but we already know. So Benny, ready to go kick some Covenant ###?"

 

OOC: Ace always call ODSTs that.

[Axilus Prime]

IC - UNSC Infinity, Didact's Vengeance - 13:34

 

"Sir, we have Spartans deployed." A Marine reported to Lasky, then immediately returned to frantically attempting to get the ship's defenses running. Hot...hot...what if we die? What happens to the rest of us? Is there a heaven or ?

 

What the heck am I doing?! The Marine quickly pressed buttons, jumping to back to the here and now.

 

Lasky ran out to a hallway, then pressed a wall comm. "Good, Spartans. Good enough. Marines have clearance to get in now, seems like our backup's a bit busy." He rushed back to find the Marine huddled on the ground in a fetal position. That was utterly ridiculous. He grabbed the Marine and pulled him out of the baking oven of a room, chastising him so furiously that the words hardly made sense. Who could blame him? The Infinity was almost certainly doomed, and these trained Marines were behaving worse than drunken ODSTs!

 

Palmer picked up on the transmission, having long since rushed to find and help more Spartans who were in tight spots so they could help the boarding effort. The captain seemed flustered.

 

For a moment she felt a twinge of jealousy at his higher rank. Surely her firm leadership could bring them to a disciplined, organized balance of attack and defense. So she would have come to believe, if her prideful thoughts weren't shattered by the sound of explosions rocking in some fuel lines and wires throughout the ship. As a wall nearly slammed into her, she realized that everyone was under a lot of stress.

 

She found a Spartan, desperately defending the Infinity. She wasn't too far from a hangar, so she had probably arrived at one before. It seemed the Prometheans were doing their best to prevent boarders from leaving. Their best wasn't good enough when someone who had been running around the ship had quite a good chance of acquiring a rocket launcher along the way.

 

The explosion took Meredith's shield down, destroying her targets. "Fit for duty, Spartan?" Palmer handed Meredith the powerful weapon. "If you are, keep this." She ran down the hall without bothering to find out, immediately opening fire with an SMG and a very old, battered Plasma Rifle.

 

The calm inside the ship would have been startling, if calm was a startling feeling. Halfway through Palmer's trip to Meredith, something had happened, and Lasky realized what. The battlecruisers glassing the ship had eased up.

 

"Urodan Rtas 'Vadum!" The Elite roared and signaled with his hand to divert power from the energy projectors to the forward batteries. The edges of 'Vadum's fleet were bombarded with plasma fire, while proton missiles rushed at them. Phantoms flew to engage those deployed by the Elite Shipmaster, while Seraphs broke off from the rest of the group to engage the Spartans and Marines.

 

Pelicans and Broadswords came under fire, including the Broadsword piloted by Beth. Its shields glowed as fast plasma bolts impacted its sides. The Seraphs were swarming them, trying to prevent any further boarding.

 

Ace and his ODSTs suddenly realized that the yellow dot was moving. From the bridge, 'Mdama could see everything on board the ship, and had decided to move the key around the ship to send the boarders on an eternal chase.

 

Eternal. That word had been so overused by the Prophets, along with "salvation", "sacred", "holy", "blessed", and a few other words that made the Storm Covenant leader sick. It was disgusting, having to pretend to believe all that to get followers. He put in a comm. "Hakade morte furh mizon Demons tor junakal." Now, the Demons and their pets would pay.

 

Prometheans were upon the boarding party, more than they could fight. As they began to try to do so anyway, over twenty Marines provided the backup they could--first by crashing a Pelican right through the hangar, into the hallway, and on top of five Knights, and then by spraying with their SAWs and hoping they would hit something enough to kill it.

 

"I got three Crawlers and a Watcher!" A Marine looked to the one behind him, who had actually slammed the rear of his gun into a Battlewagon's face and killed it.

 

"Ha! Battlewagon!"

 

"...That still only counts as one!"

 

The glassing had eased, but that wasn't the same as stopping. The Infinity could no longer operate its forward batteries, despite the crippling of the Vengeance. Lasky sent a transmission. "Rtas! Good to see you! I heard you were a friend...of a friend...of one of my friends. Can you divert fire to the Battlecruisers glassing us?" Another explosion ended the slight calm. Hopefully not a calm before a storm. And probably not, if this Shipmaster was as great as the records said.

 

Another transmission reached Master Chief as he stood at a dead end. Multiple yellow dots were on his radar, but he couldn't go directly to them. The only path, as the ODSTs' map showed, was into another room down another hallway. Two hallways led into that room, one with Chief and his men, another with Ace and his. It wasn't exactly convenient that the hallways were divided by a wall.

 

A thought about how useful a nav point would be, and yet another about Cortana. It was becoming annoying to Chief, how he could still feel emotions after Cortana was gone. Emotions like that didn't help you fire a weapon, or run, or fight. He nearly missed the transmission, but it was clear enough.

 

"Chief, Hardlight! Your groups need to rendezvous at the closest point possible, then proceed further. That way you'll have enough manpower to get that key, I hope." Two Marines dropped dead, emphasizing the word hope after the captain had said it. "Any further boarders should just kill Covenant, flank to get to the key, or destroy key ship systems. We need to exhaust them more than they've exhausted us if this is gonna work."

[ZTG]

IC: ZacThe red and black spartan made his way through the halls, hiding whenever there was a group of elites. He was a strong spartan but he preferred to fight with a team. He awaited for the elites to leave and kept his guard."This is going to be a long day..." He muttered silently.

[otter]

IC-Ilja:

 

Ilja, after looking after his arm and replenishing on ammo, had been on the Pelican full of marines when it flew into the Vengeance, his pistol and assualt rifle on his back, the SAW he had only meant to be used to lay down suppressing fire before he'd toss it.

 

"Cut down on the chatter," he growled at the quarrelling marines there with him, blasting clean through a Knight and a few Crawlers that were nearby. Stepping out of the crashed Pelican and continuing his fire, he began to backtrack towards the hangar, where Hardlight and a few ODST's were. Reload; last magazine for the SAW. Better make this one count.

 

"Hold position," he commanded the Marines in the hallway. "Once hostiles stop coming towards you, you heard the captain; head for the key, or head for the bridge." That said, he passed through the broken hole that used to be a door, heading up to Ace, Ben, and the Helljumpers in that area.

[Canis Lycaon]

IC: Meredith Black [uSC Infinity-13:35]

Meredith held the rocket launcher, and started moving towards the location of the engines. She ran past a small group of three SPARTAN-IVs, and then waved to them. They began to follow her once the found out her destined location.

 

Soon, the four arrived in the engine room. Meredith raised the rocket launcher, and began to aim it.

 

Jackals and Grunts were flooding into the engine rooms. The SPARTANs were doing their best to keep them away from Meredith, but they couldn't win. There were too many.

 

One of the SPARTANs had been hit. Meredith had to do something she had to-

 

Focus. Calm down and focus. Meredith aimed the rocket launcher and pressed down on the trigger.

 

The engines exploded. The female SPARTAN-IV whipped around, and most of the forces coming at her companions exploded in fire. The Grunts ran away, scared. The Jackals were killed by Meredith's comrades.

 

IC: Benjamin Grimpen [uSC Infinity-13:35]

Grimpen threw a smoke grenade behind him, and then nodded to his crew. They took off running towards the room, being followed by Ace. They got in the room, and then Ben slammed his gun into the door. It swung open, revealing Master Chief and a squad of soldiers.

 

Ben tossed another smoke grenade down the hallway, and it passed the SPARTAN-II. It left a cloud of smoke, and the soldiers could team up with Ace and the ODSTs.

[Makuta of Time]

IC:

"How sweet. It's the Chief; he can practically win this battle," Ace said, sounding all triumphant at the sight of him. Ace considered the SPARTAN his role model for being one himself. Even though he was presumed dead when the Unto Dawn was left drifting in space. "Chief, we need to head to the key's location. I suggest I flank its movement by going at it in both directions. One goes behind, and the other in front of its location."

 

Ace looked at the map, the key was moving. If they can catch up to it, and retrieve it, this whole battle would be over. Ace looked around to see if any Covenant or Promethean forces were behind them, none. But the Prometheans will certainly see them with there vision.

[Axilus Prime]

OOC: Zacax, are you on the Vengeance or the Infinity? I can't respond to you directly until I know.

 

IC - Didact's Vengeance - 13:37 (lolwut)

 

Chief, silent as ever, gave only a nod, then proceeded to rush to one side. His squad could hardly keep up with him, as now his rage was beginning to surface. He did not show it, at least, not to anyone who didn't know him well. He was always silent, always stronger, always faster. But if Cortana were here, she'd have known it was different.

 

Or maybe she wouldn't, because it wouldn't have been different if she had been there.

 

The sounds of gunfire and an explosion echoed down the hallway, within earshot of the Spartans and ODSTs headed in the other direction, but they had their own problems to deal with. The room they had stepped into was quite wide. A Wraith, flanked by two Ghosts, hovered in front of them. The Ghosts rushed to the sides and fired while moving in a sideways motion towards the boarders, avoiding the threateningly familiar glow of a massive plasma shell headed right at them.

 

If any had been able to pay attention to the map through all that, they would notice that the Key had oddly stopped moving.

[Makuta of Time]

IC:

"####!" Ace's shield just had to go down at the worst time. Especially with a Wraith and some Ghosts coming at them. Ace went back and fired at the Ghost drivers, moving out of the way to make the kill shots. "Guys, hold them off while my shields recharge!" Ace went around a corner and hid (while making shots from the corner) while his shields recharge.

[Canis Lycaon]

IC: Benjamin Grimpen [Vengeance-13:38]

Ben dropped to the ground and rolled. In one quick motion, he grabbed the sniper rifle off his back and secured the machine gun onto his back. The rest of his squad did the same, and Ben rolled a smoke grenade towards the Ghosts.

 

Smoke billowed through the room, and Ben activated his heat vision, sniping the pilots of the two Ghosts.

 

IC: Meredith Black [Vengeance-13:38]

Another rocket slammed into the engines of the ship. Meredith grabbed the last one she had, and fired it. The explosion engulfed the machinery, and then lights went out. Meredith smiled under her helmet. The engines had been destroyed to an extant that they could not generate power for the ship.

[Ehksidian]

IC: Mitch Kvenski [uNSC Infinity, 13:38]

Kvenski dashed down the hallway towards the hangar, encountering no Covenant forces. At least, until he rounded a corner, nearly at the hangar, to be faced with a few grunts. They were facing away from him, but of course he wasn't going to kill them from behind. He fired his carbine at the nearest one, hitting the fuel tank a few times before killing the grunt. The other grunts spun around quickly while he was shooting, and they began opening fire on him. Needles and plasma pistol shots went flying, a good many hitting his armor and depleting his shields. He ran back behind a corner, and took a few pot shots at the grunts from there. He killed the one with the needler, and one with a plasma pistol. There was only one left, and it turned and fled. Kvenski shot the fleeing grunt once in the head, and continued into the hangar, his shields recharging. He entered the hangar, and saw a few relativly intact Broadswords.

Well. Maybe I can fly one of these... shouldn't be too hard, hopefully, Kvenski thought to himself.

He jumped into the least damaged Broadsword, and took off, wobbling quite severely on its course to the Vengance.

Ok, maybe it IS harder than expected.

[Makuta of Time]

IC:

"Yes." Ace's shields came back online. He began to fire back as he exited the corner. He ran back and fired from a distance, hoping not to get killed by the Wraith if it fires again. He then takes out his DMR and fires at it, even if an Elite or Grunt piloting it doesn't come out.

[Axilus Prime]

IC - Didact's Vengeance - 12:39

 

A hoarse scream mixed with a slowing engine rang out, a sign that Ace had hit the Grunt in the first Ghost. It fell to the ground with its Plasma Pistol beside it. However, only a growl was heard after the other shot. An angry Elite ignored the bullet bounding off his energy shield, and was about to attempt to run everyone over when the smoke filled the room.

 

He coughed in frustration and fired from side to side, shooting wildly. The sniper round bounced off of the rapidly strafing Ghost, warping and damaging a section of the front, but it did little. The Elite, using his radar to track Ben, boosted towards him.

 

The DMR rounds bounced off the front of the Wraith, doing nearly nothing. A stream of plasma turret fire straight at Ace, on the other hand, was enough to drop his shield if he was hit by all of it. No doubt he would move to avoid a burning death, but Elites did not need suicidal enemies in order to win. As soon as he had moved, there was already a massive plasma arc heading towards him.

 

---

 

Incoming fire from Seraphs and Phantoms worsened the shaking of the Broadsword and began to drain its shields. Space-rated Banshees swarmed around, providing cover fire and doing what was easily one of the biggest battlefield nuisances possible--being Banshees. One of the Elites piloting them decided that now would be a good time to fire a Fuel Rod at Kvenski, and about a second later, one was flying straight for him, free of the downward arc of a Fuel Rod under normal circumstances because space lacked gravity.

[Ehksidian]

IC: Mitch Kvenski [space between Didact's Vengace and the Infinity] 13:39

"Oh come on..." Kvenski muttered, and tried pulling the broadsword up. Of course, since he barely could pilot the Broadsword without it being fired on, this was quite difficult. So, instead of going up, the broadsword accelerated forward.

"Not what I wanted!" Kvenski yelled. He tried to decelerate, and the Broadsword spun to the left, just as the fuel rod shot past him. The Phantoms and banshees continued to shoot at the broadsword as it spun, and Kvenski cursed under his breath. He activated the rockets, and aimed at the nearest Banshee. The broadsword then fired the rockets. They flew right at the Banshee, and clipped the wings. The wings of the banshee exploded, but this did little to nothing since wings don't perform much in space. He waited for the rockets to recharge, and realized that the Broadsword was actually emmitting some smoke. Oh great. This definately will end wonderfully.

He tried banking downwards, and was able to make it turn downwards. He was getting more used to the Broadsword controls. He switched to machine gun fire, and began tearing into some of the Banshees. They took a bit of damage, and one or two exploded. Unfortunately, the Broadsword was smoking more severely now. there was only one possible way to even make it to the Vengance now.

FLOOR IT!

Kvenski figured out what fired the Broadswords thrusters, and activated it. The Broadsword took off, breaking through the cluster of Seraphs, Phantoms, and Banshees, clipping its wings and other wings along the way. The Broadsword would have been on fire now had there been air in space, and all the ships he just flew by chased after him. A Banshee fired a Fuel Rod at him, and Kvenski didn't realize it until it impacted. The force of the blast shook the ship, and the boosters gave out. The Vengance's anger was right in front of him, and he flew the Broadsword into it.

I hope I can survive this landing...

Kvenski opened the cockpit of the Broadsword as it hurtled towards the back wall of the hangar. He lept out, and hit the ground hard. His shields burst, and he stood, shaking. His legs hurt from the fall, but he could at least walk. Then he realized that the Broadsword was still heading towards the wall. "****!" Kvenski yelled, and took shelter behind a gun rack. The Broadsword exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere in the hangar. The entire Vengance trembled slightly from the explosion, and Kvenski sighed with relief. He opened up his com channel and said, "This is Private Kvenski reporting for duty."

His shields recharged, and he heard the stamping of many feet heading towards him, and red dots appeared on his radar.

As if I didn't have enough problems already.

Edited May 15, 2013 by The X

[Makuta of Time]

IC:

Ace got himself out of the way of the plasma blast. Nearly getting him killed by not having shields. The he saw a Ghost about to ram Benny, and fired his DMR at the pilot. That's when he saw a plasma arc heading towards him, and ran in the opposite direction of the plasma arc. "This #### just got real."

[Krayzikk]

IC:It is said that King Arthur sleeps in Avalon, waiting for the day that he is needed most.

 

It is said that after he was grievously wounded by a betrayal from his own family, he cast his weapon back to the lake from whence it came, and traveled to the place it was made to recover. And it is there that he sleeps to this day. A fairy tale, that's what most believe it to be. The legend of a king under the mountain, waiting to return when his land faces his greatest threat.

 

But it is a tale that inspires hope, a tale that even to this day is known and loved by many. A tale of heroism, a tale that truly encompasses the determined mindset of the human race. The same mindset that allowed them to win the war, the same mindset that returned them to their place in the universe. The mindset that made them the dominant force they are today.

 

The Spartans are held as heroes, as pinnacles of what mankind should and could be. Spartans never die, or so they say. The project was so successful that it spawned a continuation, in the form of the Spartan IV program. But rarely acknowledged are the Spartan-IIIs, the force that came before them. Even now, after the war, their files remain locked, heavily guarded secrets. Secrets that much of the public do not even know about.

 

King Arthur's legend is a shining example of the human spirit. But the human spirit has a dark side. Just as Arthur was struck down by his own family, so does the UNSC unknowingly reap what they have sown. In their desperation, they gave the Office of Naval Intelligence free reign to do what they had to do. And it worked. They bought themselves some time, enough time for them to win the war. But wat what cost? What price did they pay, and what price did they continue to pay?They knew not of Alpha Company, all hands lost decades ago. They knew not of Gamma Company, all hands presumed lost after the Battle of Onyx. They knew not of Beta Company, whose numbers yielded only two survivors.

 

Or did it?The human race is deceptive. It hides its shames, its mistakes. It hides their results, and it does its best to make sure they never come to light. They will endlessly justify their actions, seeking to explain it all away.

 

But on Pegasi Delta, the site of so much carnage and destruction, those truths hide. Those truths lie hidden, waiting to be awakened.

 

OOC: Not a real first post, but hey. I was bored, felt like writing something. In case anyone was wondering, the character used in conjunction with this post (Barely) was approved a while back.

[Makuta of Time]

OOC: Since Canis has yet to respond, might as well be me.

 

IC:

"Anyone got a rocket launcher?" Ace said sarcastically. The Wraith will be destroyed one way, and that's to kill the pilot. But that's a complete suicide if he runs up there and the auto-cannons start firing.

 

But someone has to do it. "Cover me!" He ran up the Wraith and got to the top. I opened the hatch, and launched a grenade in there. He then closed it quickly and ran down the vehicle. He then dropped to the floor and covered his head just a few feet away.

 

OOC: Just since no one has responded in six days.

[Canis Lycaon]

OOC:

Flaredrick, really? Six days? I've gone over two weeks without anyone posting in Alien Conquest. Be patient.

 

IC: Benjamin Grimpen [Vengeance- 13:40]

The lights went out in the room where the SPARTANs and ODSTs were. Grimpen activated a night vision feature on his helmet, and in the blackness of the ship, locked target on the pilot of a Wraith with his sniper rifle. The sound of bullets coming from every ODST's sniper rifle filled the air.

 

They started to search for the second.

[Axilus Prime]

OOC: You just ran up to a Wraith and boarded it? That took some guts...and recklessness. That kind of thing gets you shot before you can get close enough, or splattered. Trust me, I know. I play Halo very frequently now. I may have to compensate for that by sending you heck now.

 

Canis, boarding a Wraith destroys it, so that sniper round won't do anything. Not that the Wraith driver is exposed before you damage the Wraith sufficiently. Also, there was only one Wraith.

 

Oh, and I have an announcement: The ridiculous restrictions that followed Halo 4 so closely that were established in the main post and Character Rules post are abolished. Read the Character Rules post update section, highlighted in green, for more information. More realism, more variety, and hopefully more happy players.

IC: "Chauzin! Kumaiwa no Demon rakanshiba!" An Elite Warrior and a squad of Rangers stormed into the hangar, heralded by three Fuel Rods and a barrage of Storm and Concussion Rifle fire flying toward Kvenski as soon as they spotted him.

 

"Hurenkai cruzar ni dolon raklamos. Nibashi tenzhin, hutunas karanshi." The Ranger laughed audibly after his transmission to the Warrior, who continued to fire while backing up out of the hangar. The Rangers followed suit, while the backup doors on the exterior of the hangar bay closed, and the hangar filled with air. When all five Elites were out of the hangar, the hangar's internal doors began to close. Each Elite threw a grenade inside the room, near the hangar doors, but the hangar was not cramped enough for those to kill Kvenski unless he charged at the grenades.

 

"Mdama-Shunpai. Morte zakh Demon." The doors were halfway closed...

 

---

 

The Wraith blew up, though it was too close for comfort. A piece of metal spun violently through the air and smacked Ace in the head, bringing his shield down. A small foot landed on his head, then pushed down, sending its owner high into the air. More Skirmishers jumped over the burning wreck that was once the Wraith, and before his shield could recharge, one chose to direct its Focus Rifle at Ace.

 

Meanwhile, three Skirmishers fired their Focus Rifles in a sweeping, crisscross motion at the ODSTs to make getting to cover difficult, while another fired a shot right at Grimpen's chest. Luckily for him, he was not prioritized by the Focus Rifles, but he would need to get to cover.

 

---

 

An Elite Zealot crumpled to the ground after a headshot from a Battle Rifle. Next to it lay several Commanders and Warriors, which Master Chief tossed an empty Plasma Pistol at. He picked up a Fuel Rod Cannon in its place. Combinations of weapons, grenades, melees, and a score of weapon swaps had brought down half the squad by the time Chief's allies had caught up to him, and the rest had fallen afterward.

 

Ace received a transmission. "This is Spartan 117, what's your progress?"

 

---

 

Jul 'Mdama sent a transmission to the prisons, not moving from his position. He was clearly angry. His best troops, his powerful, well-armed hordes, failing to destroy a single human, when one of his weakest troops was superior in strength and firepower to that Demon to begin with!

 

"Halsey! Your demonic creations rampage this ship as we speak! I will cut off more than just your arm if this continues! How are they to be defeated?!"

 

Halsey looked up at the speaker transmitting 'Mdama's message. She let out a puff of air in disgust. "Well, if your Elites are as powerful as you say, I would presume they are defeated in the same way that you would be."

 

The Didact's Hand was torn between a laugh and a roar, producing an odd sound of pride and anger in equal measure. "We do not have that kind of power to begin with, let alone five times that power!" It was an exaggeration of the most prideful sort, though any sensible person would have to admit that both 'Mdama and his Spartan foes were immensely difficult to kill.

 

"I assumed you had some understanding of strategy."

 

The Spartan in the hangar was enough proof that 'Mdama's forces had strategy. He did not see it as necessary to respond to that comment, as he had no insecurities about his strength. "Tell me how to defeat the true Demon. He who has destroyed our rings and lord. What will kill him will kill the rest."

 

Halsey suddenly coughed, then hesitated to answer. Quietly, she whispered, barely audible through the static and explosions, hesititating to ask lest the answer disappoint her. "John is on this ship?"

 

Mdama began to laugh like Halsey had never heard him before, truly displaying the psychopathic monster in his soul. "Yes...that Demon."

[Ehksidian]

IC: Mitch Kvenski [Didact's Vengance hangar] 13:41

The shots rang around the hangar, scorching the walls and the floor with plasma. A few crates flew through the air due to the blasts of the Concussion Rifles. Kvenski dashed behind a crate, ducking from the oncoming fire and grenades. He heard the explosions, and right afterwards popped his head out from behind cover. He fired his Carbine as fast as possible, dropping one of the Ranger's shields before hiding behind the crate again. He activated one of his plasma grenades, and chucked it over the crate, hoping to at least hurt one of the squad members. The doors continued to shut. He switched to his Plasma Pistol, charged it up, turned and loosed the shot onto the nearest Elite. Its shields busted, it staggered back, and Kvenski popped it twice in the head with his Carbine.

1 down, 5 to go

He ducked behind cover again, and saw a weapons rack lying nearby. The contents were spilled out, but Kvenski saw something great: A Fuel Rod cannon.

He dashed over to it, hearing the fire all around him and felt his shield deplete. He dove forwards, grabbed the FRG, and fired one, two, three shots at the group of Elites. They all dove for cover as the shots slammed nearby, killing another 2 Rangers and lowering the shields of the remaining Elites. Before they could react, he dashed from where the weapon rack was, and towards the hangar door. It was nearly shut, but he barely made it through the door, sprinting at top speed. He heard the Elites yelling in rage on the other side of the door, and hoped it would remain sealed. He continued sprinting, reloading the FRG along the way. His shields crackled, and he knew that a few Storm Rifle rounds struck him with his shields down, but he was otherwise relativly unharmed. He sent out a transmission to the other Spartans aboard.

"This is Mitch Kvenski. I am en route to assist in any way possible."

Edited May 15, 2013 by The X

[Makuta of Time]

IC:

"######!" Ace rolled to his right and activated the Hardlight Shield when he got up. He moved in front of Benny to provide cover while he gets up and gives him cover fire. "Benny, you might want to hurry, I got no shields and I can't hold this long." He then receives a transmission. "Hurry up. We need immediate assistance and cover fire. Now hurry!"

[Flex Lord Splash]

IC: Keith

 

His name was Keith Andersen. But oftentimes he went by a number. 68. That was his Spartan number. He was the sixth hundred and sixty eighth Spartan in the Spartan IV program. The Spartan sat in perpetual silence within the Pelican as it flew through the void of space. He was currently pulling his prized BR apart and reassembling it after running a cloth over the various parts. Keith liked to keep his weapons in good shape. Even his alien Plasma Pistol was well cleaned. His white and red armor reflected the dome lights of the pelican as the marines stared quietly at the Spartan.

 

"We're coming in on the Vengeance." the female voice of the pilot said. Figures, there were a lot of female pilots in the UNSC. Keith nodded at the announcement. "Its about time." his voice said breaking the silence, filtered by the helmet that encased his features. A few minutes later and the pelican was swooping down into a hangar bay and extending its landing gear before it settled in onto the metal flooring. Keith got to his feet and waited as the metal door opened at the back of the pelican transforming into a plank that he stepped down on as he his metal armored boots touched down onto the flooring of the Vengeance.

 

Keith raised his BR and swept the area for any surprises. "What's my orders?" Keith said into the mic within his helmet waiting for a response from command.

[Lavama]

IC (The 'Covenant' Squad (Three Grunts and a Major-Domo Sangheili)):

 

"Ready yourselves for incoming fire!" The Major-Domo spoke, mostly directing the idea to the Unggoy that had been fresh. Though mostly protected by the Phantom Dropship, the ship could still shake and spin, potentially driving the Minors into a state of disarray, lowering their already minuscule combat experience. "Pilot, this is Tal 'Jibum. How long until we reach 'Mdama's ship?"

[Axilus Prime]

OOC: I think I'll be needing to make an Rtas post myself this time, Basilisk is busy. I was waiting for him to make a post before responding, since we need Rtas for the plot here, but I can see it would be better to let him handle his own real-life duties first.

 

IC: "Come in, Ace. Status report!" Chief dodged yet another fuel rod, firing from above the Hunter who had fired it. The weapons were the same, but their users were very different. At this moment, he received another message. Further reinforcements were something they needed.

 

They needed it. He didn't. As one Hunter dropped to the ground, Chief's Hardlight Shield protected him from the other. He released the shield and jumped back, his image blurred in the Hunter's vision by the presence of three glowing fuel rods.

 

As Kvenski stepped into the hall, he would notice something rather strange. Every door was closed, and there were no enemies in sight. The doorway he had just jumped through opened again. The air pressure was high, giving him some obstruction in moving. Suddenly, but much too late, it became clear what was going on.

 

The hangar's external door opened, sucking the air out violently. Kvenski was pulled along. His helmet's comms intercepted an Elite transmission, and he would be able to vaguely make out the sound of laughter. Outside the ship, the flashes of speeding Seraphs, the fury of explosions, and the murderous intent of projectiles of all kinds. This was not the best situation.

 

"Sierra 68, proceed to reinforce whichever group is closer to your position, then advance on the Forerunner artifact. If 'Mdama gets that key, it's all ov--"

 

The comms array within the Infinity sprayed sparks across the captain's face, followed by it melting entirely. He desperately ran to another comms array, already in the process of melting. "Rtas! We need support now, or we'll all be going down with the ship! The main deck's escape pods are fried!"

 

Already on its way, a green Phantom rushed in, with a spiked, purple, oval-shaped device stuck to its underside. Everyone watching witnessed it pass right under the glassing port of the first cruiser, exploding with far more destructive power due to having an antimatter charge loaded beneath it.

 

The crew of the Phantom, composed of Elite Rangers and Grunt Ultras, landed on the Infinity, entirely unharmed. The roof of the ship--and of many floors down--had been melted straight through, and they landed only slightly above the room Lasky was in, near the ship's midsection. At the aft and bow, however, the glassing continued.

 

Immediately, it stopped, at the sight of two more Phantoms. The shipmasters of those cruisers clearly knew what would happen if the Phantoms were allowed to pass into the glassing beams. As those on the Infinity struggled to regain their composure, some were now awed at the sight of the cruisers being bombarded from the torpedoes of a certain supercarrier.

 

"If only you had called me sooner, human." Rtas devoted one laser turret to keep the path clear of significant resistance for 'Jibum's ship, then relayed his orders to his troops on the Infinity. "Help the humans in any way necessary. Treat their captain's orders as you would mine."

 

At the controls of the Phantom, the Ranger steered around the wreckage of Storm Covenant vehicles used destroyed by Rtas' ship. "We're there now. The commander wants us to assist the humans who most need it." The pilot noticed a Spartan struggling against the rush of air out of a certain hangar on the Vengeance. "For example, this human could do with a rescue! 'Jibum, I have the controls, so you'll need to do it!"

 

The boarding forces on the Infinity saw the Key moving again on their HUDs, going a short distance and then stopping again. But something seemed odd. That position in the schematics...was that not where most Covenant ships kept their prisoners?

[Makuta of Time]

IC:

"I'm, urgh, in need of assistance here Chiefy." Ace couldn't hold the Hardlight Shield up any longer, the shield has about to break. "Anyone near my area, please come and assist me now!"