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Aftermath (pn) by PalaNIN
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Aftermath (pn) Part 1
Date: 29 January 2003, 8:06 am
THE ROYAL COVENANT BATTLESHIP: BRIDGE
The Overlord looked at the transmission from the SpyScreen on the brig. As he saw Halo falling apart, he slammed his chrome-coloured fist on the arm of his chair and growled under his breath.
"I am the Overlord, descendant of the Royal Elites! That petty human shall die for his efforts! He shall find out that no one interferes with the Covenant!" he roared. "Captain!"
Captain Erintho was unusually large for a Jackal, standing at 6_ feet; he was stronger than some of the Elite troops. He carried with him a platinum shield, with a spike in the centre of it to impale enemies. He spent almost all his life destroying human bases far off from the Covenant homeworld, and training younger Jackals. He stepped over to the Overlord.
"Yes, my liege?" he answered.
"Gather a hundred of your finest troops and three hundred Grunts as well. Put them on a dropship fleet and send them to Arcon IV. I want you to continue building defences on the military base."
ECHO 419
"Are there any survivors?" asked the Master Chief.
"Scanning...we're all that's left," replied Cortana. "We did what we had to do, for Earth. An entire Covenant armada destroyed, and The Flood...it's over, this is the end."
"No, I feel it's only the beginning. It can't end with this," countered the Master Chief. "Someone out there is pissed off, and we're going to have to pay the consequences for what we've done today."
"Maybe you're right, but anyway, lets head back to Earth."
The Master Chief turned on the hyperdrive and headed home, all the while unwary of the dangers that were to happen.
THE ROYAL COVENANT BATTLESHIP: JACKAL ADMINISTRATION AND SPY NETWORK
Captain Erintho came back from the Troop Centre. His assistants had gathered up the troops, and the dropships were going to pick them up in two hours. He sat down at his personal Control Centre, where half a dozen glowing monitors were giving him information from every area that he was in control of. Assassination reports, ammunition supplies, and most importantly, intelligence.
He leaned over to the Intelligence monitor, which showed a large map of where Halo used to be and the surrounding areas. When he saw a small flash from the corner of the screen, a wide grin had formed upon his face. That grin turned into a chuckle, and then a laugh. He was laughing with excitement, but also anticipation. The Overlord was right to use Genesis. The tracker that he had deployed on Echo 419 had been worth it.
ECHO 419
"Entering Milky Way galaxy now, we're almost home," the soothing words from Cortana relaxed the Master Chief's mind. He hadn't been home for twenty-four years. He would finally be able to see his parents, and his two sisters. He would be able to roll around on the grass without being shot at by an alien race, and he wouldn't need to look over his shoulder to see if The Flood was there.
"How long till we get on Earth?" he asked. He was still in a dreamy mood, Cortana thought.
"We'll have to dock in at Theta, a space station orbiting Earth. While we've been away, they've created a sort of teleporter so it's easier to get to and from space. We'll reach Theta in two hours; the engines have been overheated, I'm waiting for them to cool down. Meanwhile we'll drift towards Earth on the momentum we got from the hyperdrive."
"Good."
THE ROYAL COVENANT BATTLESHIP: BRIDGE
Erintho ran to the bridge as quickly as possible, all the while still laughing at the prospect of genocide.
As he reached the bridge, he gathered his composure and slowed down to a quick walk.
"My liege, I have some very good news for you."
The Overlord hadn't heard the words 'very good' for some time. He turned his seat around to face the Captain. "Really? Continue."
"I have discovered the location of the human homeworld."
The Overlord raised an eyebrow. "Tell the supervisor on Arcon IV to put the Genesis on standby, it's time for the human to feel the true wrath of The Covenant!"
"Yessir," replied Erintho. He walked smartly through the dimly lit corridors into External Control. External Control was the gateway to all the military bases outside the Covenant star system. It was a huge room, almost as large as the hangar bays. Dozens of Elites monitored glowing screens.
"You!" the Captain pointed to a young Elite monitoring the Alpha-Gamma galaxies. "Contact administration at Arcon IV and put the Genesis on standby."
"Right away, Captain."
ARCON IV COVENANT MILITARY BASE: GENESIS MONITORING ROOM
The pair of Jackals, Major Perihl and Major Ynnr, stood from the fourth floor window, looking at the monolith that was Genesis. A 130-metre tall plasma-powered rocket sat encased inside a large concrete casing. They were proud of their invention, the first weapon to destroy an entire planet without additional support. They simply stood from the window, gazing longingly.
"Major Perihl, a call from The Royal Battleship is ready for you on Deck Seven," sounded the loudspeaker from the corner of the ceiling.
"Wonder what that could be?" asked Ynnr.
"Probably some update on the destruction on Halo," replied Perihl. And with that he turned on his heel, and headed to the gravity lift up to Deck Seven.
ARCON IV COVENANT MILITARY BASE: DECK SEVEN: ADMINISTRATION
"There was a call for me?" Perihl asked the Jackal behind the desk.
"Yes Major. It's an audiovisual call. One moment please."
Perihl was surprised. Hardly anyone used the audiovisual method unless it was urgent, or important. The Major froze. He knew what the call was about.
"Major Perihl?" asked the caller. The strong, deep voice immediately came back to him.
"Captain Erintho, it is an honour to meet you again."
"I have some important news. I want you to activate the Genesis. It is time for the Humans to pay for what they've done."
Aftermath (pn) Part 2
Date: 30 January 2003, 4:33 am
ECHO 419
The Master Chief tapped his fingers on the armrest. Strangely enough, he wasn't thinking about Earth and its lost pleasures. He did miss his family and friends, but something just didn't seem right.
"Cortana, are you sure everything was destroyed in the blast?"
"Yes, I double-checked for life forms; once right after the blast, once right before we went into hyperdrive," replied Cortana. "Nothing is going to come after us, Chief."
ARCON IV COVENANT MILITARY BASE: DECK SEVEN: ADMINISTRATION
"Roger Captain," replied Perihl. This was the penultimate moment in his life, yet he didn't need to know how to act. He put down the audiophone and just stood, considering the call.
After a few moments he regathered his composure and started to head back to the Genesis monitoring room.
ARCON IV COVENANT MILITARY BASE: GENESIS MONITORING ROOM
"Well, what was the call about?" asked Ynnr. Perihl's face was stern, and militaristic as usual.
"Captain Erintho...he, uh...asked us to...to active Genesis," by the time he had finished his sentence, his stern look had disappeared into oblivion, and in its place was a grinning, half-drunk-half-stoned cacophony of a Jackal. "This is it Ynnr, we're going to get those Human bastards!"
Ynnr just smiled. "I'll go tell Ground Floor to start it up."
THE ROYAL COVENANT BATTLESHIP: BRIDGE
Captain Erintho walked smartly back onto the Bridge. "My liege, I have delivered the command."
"Get Arcon IV on screen here on the Bridge," commanded the Overlord. "I want to see the deployment of the rocket. This is a most glorious day for the Covenant. Our descendants shall remember it for eons to come."
A screen came up in front of the Overlord, outlining position, size and shape of the installation, then cutting to the rocket silo, where a countdown clock was heard.
"Thirty minutes to deployment. Final checks cleared..."
"Excellent," said the Covenant.
ECHO 419
"Forty-five minutes till we dock in at Theta, chief. Secondary engines recharged to full, primary engine at 70 per cent," said Cortana.
The Master Chief felt a tingle down his neck and spine. It felt as if someone was screaming at him, or screaming at something. He didn't bother to tell Cortana, she needed to monitor the ship's engines and to dock in at Theta.
Why was he feeling this? The Master Chief began to wonder. Was there a link between him and Halo, or The Covenant? He became suddenly pessimistic. Was Halo really destroyed? Did The Flood escape?
Now he had to tell Cortana.
THE ROYAL COVENANT BATTLESHIP: BRIDGE
The screen overlooked the many engineers, scientists and officers controlling the deployment. The countdown was at twenty-one minutes when another, smaller screen appeared next to the main one. It showed a birds-eye view of the installation, and showed the dropship fleet reaching the military sector.
The installation was mainly comprised of the rocket silo (sticking out like a sore thumb) and had the administration, military, science and engineering sectors situated around it. Turrets were surrounded every two hundred metres around the perimeter of the base, and had forty Banshees, seventy Ghosts and one hundred and fifty stationary guns.
Over three hundred Covenant were not part of the military; they ranged from the Hunter cooks, the Grunt servants and assistants, and the Elite builders. The base had recreation facilities as well - a gymnasium (similar to the human one) was situated in the administration sector, and a lounge/sporting area was directly three floors below the rocket silo, dubbed the 'neutral zone' by the locals.
"Dropship fleet G13 docked," the monotone voice was clear in the Overlord's ears. "Deployment of troops commencing in two minutes. Twenty minutes to deployment. Primary thrusters charging."
ECHO 419
"Cortana..." the Master Chief was feeling a little hot under the collar, literally. "I've been hearing voices, like something's screaming at me. Did we really destroy Halo?"
Cortana's hologram came up in front of the Master Chief. "Are you feeling alright? You sound like you've had a nightmare."
"No," he then tried to gather his composure. He cleared his throat. "Is there any link between me and Halo, or The Covenant?
Cortana frowned. "I've tried to keep this from you ever since we got off the Pillar of Autumn. The secret I am going to tell you is not known by anyone else in the Universe, only Captain Keyes knew.
"You are not a human, Chief. Your mother was a human, champion athlete, star scholar. However, she was captured by The Covenant four years before we knew of their existence," she paused. "An Elite officer raped her, before their convoy was destroyed...by The Flood.
"She somehow made her way back to Earth, although she had amnesia. The only way that Keyes and I found out was through the Brainscan three weeks later. Eight and a half months later you were born. Luckily you had the physical and neural appearance of a human, but your bloodstream and muscles were extraordinarily large, and resembled that of an Elite."
"So, I'm half-human?" asked the Master Chief. He grabbed the Assault Rifle on his lap and held it tightly. "All...this...goddamn time...and...I wasn't told?" It was unfortunate that Cortana couldn't see the Chief's anger underneath his helmet; that way she could've calmed him down.
THE ROYAL COVENANT BATTLESHIP: BRIDGE
The Overlord was getting verging on being impatient. He asked servants to bring around glasses of gyrongl for all generals, colonels and everyone on the Bridge. He wanted this moment to be perfect, so he would forever be known as the one who destroyed the humans. Oh, what a glorious day it would be, thought the Overlord.
"Ten minutes to deployment. Primary thrusters charged to 70 per cent."
ECHO 419
The Master Chief let his anger take over him. It was as if he was unconscious of what he was doing, only intent and remedy remained in his head. Why was he burdened with this terrible birthright? How can he destroy the very thing that gave him existence in this place?
His hands moved to the barrel of the Assault Rifle. He took a deep breath and hit the control board in front of him with the butt of the weapon. At least he didn't fire it, thought Cortana. The Master Chief let out a war cry, and began to turn into a psychotic, apocalyptic mood. He smashed machinery, broke circuits and punched screens till he was exhausted. He felt like dying, he felt like ridding the human race of him and his Covenant blood.
ARCON IV COVENANT MILITARY BASE: GENESIS MONITORING ROOM
"Two minutes to deployment. Primary thrusters charged to full."
Perihl and Ynnr could hear the countdown clock reasonably clearer than from the Royal Battleship. Down the corridor to the neutral zone, they could hear the engineers and scientists already celebrating their magnificent feat.
"It sounds like the workers are already getting drunk," remarked Ynnr with a smile. "This will be a big step for us in the Covenant military. I'd say we'd be promoted to...General?"
Perihl chuckled with glee. "Wow, I never thought of that. We would be honoured by the entire Covenant. What a perk."
ECHO 419
The Master Chief was smashing the control panel when it happened.
"Chief! Think about what you're doing! Can't we calm down and talk about this..."
The Master Chief saw the rocket through the front window out the corner of his eye. They were merely twenty minutes from Theta when it hit Earth.
The missile penetrated the Earth's atmosphere directly above Mexico, and landed in Uruguay. Even from those thousands of kilometres away, the Chief and Cortana could see the waves of destruction, echoing all over the globe. Neither of them made a sound, the shock of the startling event blocking their voices. After what seemed a lifetime, the Earth was no more than millions of pieces of rock, destined to float through space. Earth was destroyed, by a mere rocket.
Cortana and the Master Chief simply stared at the empty space where Earth once was. But to the Master Chief, it seemed almost...right. It was as if the act of destroying the entire human race was meant to happen.
"Scanning for survivors...we're all that's left. It's the end of the human race, Chief."
"No, I feel it's only the beginning."
By PalaNIN.
End notes: The spelling of this fan fic is Australian, and may need to be edited to allow for American changes.
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