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Written by: Rebel Grunt
Special Thanks to: the GR clan for putting up with me.

The following is NOT based on a true story

If any character in this story resembles a real or actual individual it is completely coincidental so don't get angry if the slimey monster/uncle fred look-alike dies.

Chapter 1
*Yayap took a deep breath of methane and felt peaceful for the first time in many units-- No Flood, no Humans, and no Covenant. Yayap knew it would not be long before he ran out of methane and joined his ancestors in a swampy paradise. Despite this Yayap was happier than he had been since he left his swamp so long ago.
He passed a few Covenant camps, but none were suspicious of a grunt riding a Ghost. Ghosts were small hover crafts used for light reconnaissance and patrols. Yayap was on no patrol though, he was running away-- away from the war and away from the Covenant.
In the distance there was a flash, and Halo began to shake. Massive cracks appeared in the ground, and Yayap suddenly realized that he did not want to die after all. He accelerated and cursed when the Ghost could not go faster.
Yayap's ears started to hurt. At first he thought it was just the noise, but he soon realized ear pains were the least of his problems. Halo's atmosphere was beginning to depressurize. His pains were about to get a lot worse.
The structures of the Forerunners had airtight doors and Yayap--sure as the fires of Meltichipi--hoped that the atmosphere would not depressurize until he found one. He soon came to a medium size Forerunner complex and raced towards it. As he neared the structure he saw it was controlled by the covenant. The Jackal's fragile lungs had already collapsed from the decompression, and their bodies were scattered about the facility. An Elite and about fifty fellow Grunts were all clamoring for the entrance. The Elite was shooting grunts right and left trying to clear a path to the entrance. Yayap knew he had to help his brothers and sisters. He fired the Ghost's plasma guns over and over until the Elite was cooked to a cinder. The last of the grunts struggled through the entrance, and Yayap's Ghost was right behind them.
As the decompression reached critical levels the doors automatically closed, and the room began to repressurize. The grunts squeals of joy echoed through the passageways as they celebrated their escape.
Yayap climbed out of the Ghost and looked around. For the first time in his life he was truly thankful for the Forerunner's creations. The Forerunners were a powerful and advanced race who ruled the galaxy for untold units before vanishing-- leaving their creations behind. The Forerunner's "leftovers" were the basis for most Covenant technology.
the Grunts found a band of humans a little deeper into the complex. The Humans surrendered when they realized the grunts were not under Covenant rule and therefore did not have to abide by the Covenant take-no-prisoner policy.
When it was Yayap's turn to guard the Humans, he studied them closely but could not see why the Prophets seemed to hate them. Sure Humans were extremely ugly, but they were not particularly bad. One of the female Humans even tried to speak in Grunt by imitating the barks and growls of Yayap's language. She did not actually say a word, but she still made a statement. She was ready to bridge the gap between the two species. Yayap then responded by imitating the strange warbling of the Human language. He was ready as well.
Yayap began pointing to different objects and telling the Human their names in his language. Then the Human would tell him her versions of the item's name. By the end of the day Yayap had discovered that the Human's name was Laurel, and that she thought the war was stupid just as much as he did.
The only other Covenant species in the complex besides Grunts were Engineers. Laurel had said that they looked like floating octopuses which Yayap believed were some sort of creature from the Human world. Engineers were rather single-minded and did not care about anything except fixing and building machines. One of the Grunts, fluent in Engineer, had, to Yayap's delight, convinced one of the Engineers to build a methane generator to refill the Grunts' severely depleted tanks.
The Engineers also refitted some Banshees and Ghosts to fly in a vacuum. For the first time the doors of the complex were going to be opened and whatever lay outside would be revealed.
Yayap gripped the controls of his modified Banshee and waited for the doors to open. The countdown ticked away 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... There was no whoosh of escaping atmosphere or sucking cold of the void. In fact the area around the structure was as lush and green as it had always been. The area around the installation was protected by a rippling blue-green energy shield that had kept in the atmosphere. Beyond the shield Yayap could see that he was actually on a large chunk of floating rubble. Halo had been shattered into pieces that now floated through space like a massive swarm of Shartacktack flies.
Many of the other chunks had undamaged Forerunner structures on them. these were also protected by energy shields. Yayap hoped and feared that the other installations might also house survivors.

Chapter 2
* 'Zazuhamee swelled with pride as he watched his personal army prepare to take yet another piece of rubble into his vast empire. Groups composed of ten Elites, each lead by a Hunter pair, marched in orderly processions. Overhead Banshies, piloted by Spec-Ops Elites, flew in tight formation guarding the drop ships that were being loaded with troops.
After Halo had shattered, the survivors soon turned against each other in all out war. 'Zazuhamee controlled the largest of the rubble empires, and it was about to get larger. A sizable Forerunner structure on a near by chunk of rubble was controlled by a band of Jackals. They had attracted 'Zazuhamee's attention after successfully launching a raid into his-second largest installation inflicting massive casualties with only two losses. Apparently the jackals had somehow melded their shield technology with the Forerunner shields which had mysteriously popped up all over the "Shards",of Halo.
The new shield technology developed by the Jackals allowed them too adjust the size of their shields and stick the muzzles of their weapons through the shields instead of around them. Another frightening feature of the shields is was that when overlapped they seemed to connect into one larger shield strong enough to repel the blast from a fuel-rod cannon. 'Zazuhamee was determined to eliminate this threat with the full force of his personal army.
'Zazuhamee, unlike many Elites, knew that honor was not worth being killed for so he stayed behind at his "Palace" with two battalions of commander Elites and a squad of hunters.
* * *
Yayap walked up to the energy shield. It appeared to be no thicker than one of the bubbles formed by swamp gasses escaping the wet marsh of his home world. He cautiously stuck a stick through the shield, not dumb enough to try to touch it, felt no resistance as the stick passed through the barrier as though it was not there. The moisture in the stick caused it to freeze instantly in the vacuum.
"Do not touch the shield!" Yayap yelled at a young grunt who had been reaching stupidly towards the rippling membranous energy field.
"Oh sorry", He muttered sheepishly, "no harm me intending."
"Well what you intend and what happens never are that similar are they Gagaw?" Yayap said as he finally recognized the member of his old squad he had commanded before the human cyborg thingy with the special armor came.
Gagaw stared at Yayap for a second and then his face brightened "Yayap!" He shouted, "Where you been, we thought that crazy elite had gotten you killed in his hunt for that cyborg thing."
"Nearly did but I got the Meltichipi out of there." Yayap said as he hugged him.
"Yah, you always did excel at running away." Gagaw said teasingly.
"Your a fine one to talk about running away." Yayap said, "In every battle you were always the first to yell 'Flee' at the top of your voice and do exactly that."
"My motto is: 'A soldier who doesn't fight but simply runs away--" Gagaw began.
"--Lives to run another day." Yayap finished, having heard Gagaw say that a hundred times.
* * *
Two Years Later:
Laurel ducked as a blast from a fuel-rod cannon crashed into the rock she crouched behind. At first things had gone just fine. The grunts had befriended the humans and allowed them to go free. They had worked together to build small space craft and explore the surrounding shards. They had combined human and covenant technology to create new and advanced shield systems. many great things had been achieved. They had even started experimenting with creating slip space drives. Then they had encountered more survivors. In fact as it turned out, 90% of the rubble had survivors of one type or another. Unfortunately these survivors had formed into factions and engaged in all out war.
The New Covenant, as the humans and grunts were calling themselves, had been able to rebuild and advance due to their isolation and had a definite technological advantage which helped them survive despite being quite unprepared for the hostility of the other survivors. Now, two years since the destruction of Halo, the New Covenant was engulfed in a war they did not want to be in any way involved in.
Laurel spun around and aimed her Needle-Rifle, a cross between the human Assault-Rifle and the Covenant Needler, at the Hunter. She fired all that remained in the clip and crouched behind the boulder once more.
The needles, guided by both the electromagnetic fields and heat given off by the hunters body, homed in on the bare patches of flesh between the hunters armor plates and detonated. The creature gave out one last bellow and fell to the ground. Laurel slammed another clip into her weapon and dashed toward the nav beacon projected on her HUD. That was where she would be rendezvousing with Yayap's team two minutes ago (which meant she was late).
As Laurel dashed into the LZ Yayap waved her onto the drop ship and they lifted off. Suddenly the drop ship lurched and a section of the armor plating began to glow a sickly orange.
"What hit us?" Yayap yelled.
"Looks like a mortar from a wraith," The pilot replied, "one more hit like that and were dead. I've got to put down."
"What!" Yayap cried "Get us the heck out of here."
"Negative, this think cant dodge worth a Darziri Beetle. We need to get on the ground where he can move."
Laurel knew that if a pilot who is usually more attached to her ship than her life says that you must abandon ship then you better abandon ship. "I saw some caves back there. If we can get in those we can be safe until we find a way to deal with those tanks."
Yayap glared at her "Very well." he said and turned to his troops "Get ready to land the old fasion way." he called.
"How's that?" Laurel asked as she held on to one of the I-beams of the small craft.
"Like a brick" Yayap said.

Chapter 3
* James dashed down the small ravine as fast as his broken leg would allow him. He felt the heavy pounding of the Hunter's feat cause the ground to trimmer. He scrambled around yet another corner in this seemingly endless ravine and suddenly found the end. He wished he hadn't. The ravine came to a dead stop at a rippling green energy field. He knew he couldn't risk passing through that field. His suit might protect him from the vacuum but he would have no way to steer and he might not get as lucky as last time.
The hunter rounded the corner and bellowed a challenge. The creature charged at James and intended to crush him with it's shield. James tried to dodge the hunter and let it's momentum carry it through the shield but one of the hunter's spines caught on his armor and pulled him through too. The hunter died instantly in the vacuum. James was still alive but his suit did not hold very much oxygen and so that was subject to change.
* * *
Yayap's prediction was dead on. The drop ship slammed into the ground with enough force to snap a dozen of the I-beams that made up the superstructure of the craft. The only reason the passengers were even alive was due to their repulser shielding. Instead of wearing bulky armor under their personal shields the New Covenant had used the same repulser technology that was in the ghosts to create a centimeter think, form fitting, anti-grav field around it's soldiers. These fields could repel twice the firepower of the armor used by spartan cybernetic soldiers and allowed one to survive a fall from extreme heights.
Yayap popped open the hatch of the drop ship and glanced around. No enemies in sight but he had a feeling some were on their way. He called back to his squad "Come on before somebody comes to see if we survived the crash."
"We should salvage the drop ship's radio first." Laurel said "We need to see if we can get Reaper to come by." Reapers were probably the only reason the new covenant was still alive. The Reapers were small, fast ships that boasted twin forward facing plasma turrets and ten rotating laser turrets. A shockingly powerful arsenal for a ship of it's size.
"Very well," Yayap said, "but hurry up, we don't want to hang around. The smoke from this thing is gonna be a beacon for anyone in the area." Yayap felt very nervous. Things had not gone well today. The mission had started out as a simple extraction of a spy. The spy would sneak off, meet the drop ship towards the edge of the shard and they would be one their way. Things had all went to the nine pillars of Meltichipi when a banshee patrol had spotted them and, by some stroke of bad luck, was able to hit the drop ship's central de-fragminter with it's fuel rod cannon. By the time they had that repaired the Wraith mortar tanks had shown up and forced them into this crash lining.
"Got it," Laurel said as she crawled out of the drop ship clutching the radio, "now lets get out of here."
Yayap could not agree more.
* * *
'Zazuhamee stared at the Elite kneeling before him in disgust. Things had been going fine until the New Covenant showed up. His armies had conquered every shard they ever set their sights on. He was the supreme power until one day his forces tried to launch an attack on a fairly large shard controlled by a mix of humans and grunts. This group which identified themselves as the New Covenant had been isolated from the conflict and 'Zazuhamee had expected them to fall easily. Unfortunately they had not been idle in his absence. This New Covenant had advanced their technology substantially beyond the other shard inhabitants. 'Zazuhamee's army had been decimated. He still controlled a huge territory but the New Covenant had started recruiting the inhabitants of the shards to join them. Even a few Elites and Hunters from 'Zazuhamee's own army had joined the New Covenant. Worse a human super-soldier had been conducting his own gorilla war on 'Zazuhamee's second largest shard. Damn! How had one of those things gotten here?
"The news you bring me is unfortunate," 'Zazuhamee said to the Elite before him, "and it is unfortunate for you that you were the one in command when it happened." The Elite looked up and 'Zazuhamee Impaled him with a plasma sword. "Very unfortunate."
* * *
The cave shook as yet another mortar smashed into the ground above. Instead of sending troops into the cave where Laurel, Yayap, and the rest were hiding 'Zazuhamee's forces had opted to try and collapse the cave by bombarding it with Wraith Mortars. A smart move considering the New Covenant soldiers could handle any ground forces thrown at them. Laurel did not like it when her enemies made smart moves.
"If that Reaper doesn't come in about ten minutes ago we are all dead." Laurel said optimistically.
"But if it was ten minutes ago wouldn't we be dead already?" Yayap asked.
"That's my way of saying they are late." Laurel replied. Small talk helped to keep her mind off the fact that she was under four tons of unstable rock being bombarded with energy bombs.
A voice crackled over the radio "This is Reaper Zulu 17 we have you on sensors. ETA 30 seconds. Hang in there."
"Nice to hear from you Zulu 17, we were beginning to think you had gotten lost." Yayap said into the radio. Then he turned to Laurel, "Ride is here."

Chapter 4
*James slowly drifted back to consciousness but had a feeling that his mind was playing tricks on him. He should have been dead. He had been knocked off one of the shards and his oxygen supply had been 99% depleted. Also he realized his helmet was off. Now how he was drifting through space without a helmet was a mystery to him. Come to think of it how was he breathing? James decided that maybe opening his eyes would help but he was pretty reluctant for some reason.
James opened his eyes and discovered he was in a small metal room that appeared to have bee retrofitted to be a small medical bay. A pair of guards stood one on either side of the door. James was relieved to see they were humans. He was finally among friends. Then he heard one speaking a string of words from the grunt dialect into a small radio he began to rethink that assent. Why would humans be speaking an alien language, and very fluently?
A woman walked into the medical bay and walked over to James's bed. She began speaking to him in the grunt language. She stopped at his quizzical look and suddenly switched to Basic. "Sorry about that, I haven't spoken Human in almost two years. So, what would a spartan be doing in the shards?"
James stared at this woman. She was treating him like he was an alien. "who are you people?" he asked. He had a feeling they were not UNSC Marines.
"I am Laurel former UNSC Marine now commander of the Human Division of the New Covenant," Laurel said.
James looked at her. She had just admitted to being in league with the Covenant. Or what she called the New Covenant. "What is the New Covenant?" James asked her trying to hide the accusation in his voice.
"Well I guess I had better give you a little history lesson." Laurel said, "After Halo blew, all the forerunner structures sealed themselves off, keeping the atmosphere inside. About a week later energy shields activated over the shards. On one particular shard a group of Grunts, Engineers, and Humans managed to survive. The realized they would have to work together. Eventually, once they realized that neither the grunts or the humans ever wanted this war they decided to break away from both sides and form their own Covenant. The Engineers were fine with this because they could then meld Human and Covenant technology together which apparently the Engineers had wanted to do for a while but the higher covenant classes had forbid it. This New Covenant began to build space craft and even started experimentation with slip space drives before they encountered 'Zazuhamee's army. 'Zazuhamee was an Elite that rose to power when Halo was destroyed. After building a massive army and crushing all neighboring groups of survivors 'Zazuhamee began expanding his empire outwards hoping to control all of the shards. Then he encountered the New Covenant. The New Covenant had spread out and controlled forty eight shards when 'Zazuhamee first encountered them. Many members of the New Covenant Joined after it was originally created. They were refugees from the shards 'Zazuhamee had taken over or destroyed. Being isolated from the war the New Covenant had advanced their technology far past that of 'Zazuhamee. Unfortunately his forces had strength in numbers and the first battle ended in a draw. The war has continued ever since."
James stared at this woman for a long time digesting what she was telling him. The his training kicked in. These people had betrayed the UNSC and must be destroyed. James was unarmed but he had no doubt that he could easily take out three soldiers that appeared to be wearing nothing in the way of body armor. James lunged up and struck the woman in the face with the blade of his hand. A strike like that from a spartan could slice through titanium-A like cheese and should have cleaved this woman in too. Instead she seemed not to even feel the blow. She punched the spartan in the chest and sent his half ton of muscle flying through the air.
"I was hoping you could be of some assistance to us," Laurel said, "apparently I was wrong." With that she turned and left the room.
* * *
Yayap watched through the security camera as Laurel explained their history to the Spartan. He was a little disappointed when the spartan turned out to be hostile but was not actually surprised. If what Laurel had told him was true these super-soldiers had literally been brainwashed by the UNSC to be unquestioningly loyal. Yayap ordered the guards to let him loose on one of 'Zazuhamee's shards. Maybe he would inadvertently help them by taking a few of 'Zazuhamee's soldiers out before they killed him.
* * *
'Zazuhamee looked down at the spartan kneeling before him. "So, you say you want to join my army and fight against these New Covenant traitors? This offer may be too tempting to resist..."

Chapter 5
* Laurel slept in her bunk getting some much needed R&R when Gagaw ran in squealing in excitement. "Laurey, Laurey, lookey, come!" He cried and dashed out of the room.
Laurel sighed and got up. Gagaw had a tendency to overestimate the excitingness of something but even Gagaw knew when something was truly urgent some of the times. "What is it Gagaw?" Laurel called as she chased him through the passages.
"We find little door, we break little door, we find big thing." He cried in excitement.
"Thanks for being so specific." Muttered Laurel as she followed the diminutive little alien.
Laurel followed Gagaw through a small door she was pretty sure hadn't been there a few hours ago and came into a large room that looked surprisingly like the bridge of a ship.
Yayap beckoned Laurel over to a control panel he was studying and said "I think we have found Halo's control center."
"That's impossible," Laurel protested, "before halo went boom Cortana contacted us and said that she and the masterchief had located the control center. It was no where near here."
"They found one yes, but according to this," Yayap gestured down at the panel in front of him, "Halo served many functions and each one had a separate control center. I think this is the one for it's primary function."
"How more primary than destroying all sentient life can you get?" Laurel asked, not sure she wanted the answer.
"According to this destroying all sentient life was their version of a self-destruct."
"So, what's it's main function?"
"Halo is a ship"
"A ship?"
"Yes, a very large ship. I believe it was designed to sterilize flood-infected planets."
"how?"
"Halo would rotate around a planet similar to the naturally occurring rings some planets possess. Then it wold bombard the surface until every inch was melted into glass."
Laurel was silent for a moment absorbing this. "Too bad we cant fix it. We would have the coolest ship in the galaxy. That is if we could disable the self-destruct."
"Actually we can fix it," Yayap said, "but it wont be easy."
"How?"
"Halo can use it's gravity generation devices to fix itself. Unfortunately, we need to input the command to activate in another control center within ten minutes of it being inputted here." Yayap explained
"Well, what are we waiting fore?" Laurel said enthusiastically.
"The second control center in under 'Zazuhamee's fortress."
"Oh," Laurel said, "I see how that could complicate things."
Chapter 6
*James was not happy with being in 'Zazuhamee's army but he could not allow the New Covenant to get away with this treachery. In the early years of his training, Deja', his AI teacher had once told him of the philosophy that the enemy of ones enemy was ones friend. This was the only justification James had for his actions.
A pair of hunters came and kneeled before him. The one an the left spoke "Field Commander, a reaper has dropped off a sizable strike-team of New Covenant soldiers on shard zero-three-seven. What is your command?"
James turned to a map of the shard. "How large is this strike-team and what equipment do they have?"
"Four Grunts and two Humans. Each on riding a ghost and armed with siege class battle gear." The hunter on the right said.
"Interesting," James muttered, "they are armed as if they intend to be in enemy territory for an extended period and travel a sizable distance." He stared back at the map. "They could intend to utilize the links to get to the capitol shard. Triple the guard around all the links and send a trio of ten Hunter Pairs to intercept these insurgents."
* * *
"Okay everybody we need to use the links to get across to 'Zazuhamee's palace." Yayap said to the squad, "Don't rely on your stealth generators too much. They wont fool laser scanners and they don't block all the heat sop you can show up on thermal scans now and then."
"So where is the nearest link?" Laurel asked eager to get moving.
"Four miles away. It was as close as we could risk taking the reaper." Yayap answered.
"What these linkey things anyway?" Gagaw asked
"'Zazuhamee connected all his shards with grav-lifts. Those are how we are going to try to make our way to his palace." Laurel answered despite having said the exact same thing to Gagaw four times previously.
"Then we turn halo in to big shippy and fly away?" Gagaw asked.
"Yes Gagaw, now be quiet." Yayap said and activated his ghost's stealth generator rendering he and his vehicle completely invisible. The rest of the squad followed suit.
* * *
Ipacha-nosalee crouched in front of the link he and his bond brother were guarding with ten Elites. The hunter brothers were stationed directly in front with the elites fanned out on either side.
About half a mile ahead ten Hunter Pairs were stationed with a shock line that would disable the active camouflages of the ghosts the New Covenant were riding. Ipacha and his brother were guarding the link in case one of the New Covenant avoided the shock line and was able to get through.
* * *
Laurel glanced around the valley. So far they had encountered no resistance what so ever and it made her nervous. Whenever you found a lack of resistance in an area it usually meant there was going to be an ambush somewhere down the line.
Suddenly as the group rounded another bend in the valley the link came into view about half a mile away. Laurel glanced down and saw a tiny blue glow in the tall grass. She was about to call a warning when bolts of electricity jumped up and slammed into their ghosts disabling the stealth generators. As the group flickered and became visible twenty hunters rose from the tall grass where they had been crouched. Laurel knew there was no way they could take twenty Hunters. They would simply be vaporized by the combined strength of so many fuel-rod cannons.
In unison all twenty Hunters roared battle cries and fired.

Chapter 7
*Yayap saw the wall of plasma rushing towards them and knew there was no way they would be able to turn around before they were vaporized. "Drop!" He cried hoping the command would be enough. Laurel and Yayap tumbled to the ground and crouched in the grass. Gagaw panicked, released the control sticks and fell off the ghost in a heap. The other human however attempted to turn his Ghost around and was vaporized in an instant. The three covered the backs of their heads as the plasma bolts whizzed overhead.
"Gagaw, hand me your Decimator real quick," Laurel reached for the device, "before their guns can recharge.
Gagaw handed her the weapon as he crouched in the grass. Decimators were small nuclear rocket launchers. It would be useless once the hunters were closer but she would be able to get away one shot and one shot from a Decimator could change the tide of battle.
The hunters within the blast radius did not scream or blow apart. They simply were not there.
Even over 400 meters out of the device's blast radius the shock wave lifter Laurel, Gagaw, and Yayap into the air and hurled them backwards.
Laurel scrambled up and swept the surroundings with her Needle Rifle. To her surprise the Decimator had killed all the hunters.
* * *
Ipacha-nosalee watched in horror as his brothers were consumed in the flash of that demonic light. All gone in an instant. Ipacha then realized that was going to die. He did not try and hope for he was happy. He would be with his brothers again.
* * *
James kneeled before 'Zazuhamee, "Sir the New Covenant soldiers have gotten past the defenses of the first link. They are progressing to the second as we speak. Sir, I recommend shutting down the links until we have destroyed these insurgents."
"We cannot afford to shut them down." 'Zazuhamee said, "That could be what they want. If we shut down the links we will not have enough drop ships to ferry troops. If the New Covenant launched an attack we would be unable to mount a formidable defense."
"Then what will we do?" Asked James.
"Let them get through the link of the shard they are on and I want an ambush on the next shard. Have Elite Snipers post on either side with a phalanx of Hunters guard the link and have an Elite volley team cover them." 'Zazuhamee instructed.
"Very well." James replied and strode out of the command station. He walked down the hall and began issuing orders to the sub-generals.
* * *
"Where the big nasty?" Gagaw asked.
"It is odd," Laurel said, "there is almost no resistance on this shard. All we've seen are a few Elite patrols."
"It must be a trap like on the last shard." Yayap speculated.
"Or maybe they just gotten big stupidity." Gagaw suggested.
"I wish. Come on lets get moving." Laurel promptly ended the conversation.

Chapter 8
*Gagaw stared through the sights of Laurel's sniper rifle. "Big guns being that way!" He cried and hit Laurel's leg to get her attention.
"What? Hunters?"
"Yes, and huge lots of them!" Gagaw squealed.
"I don't think the same trick will work twice. The must have backup." Yayap said. "I'll bet you its snipers."
"Gagaw not want head to have new hole. Lets find way around."
"The eastern side of this shard has some good trees for cover. Lets double back and head through them." Yayap said.
The threesome hiked for three hours and came to a halt out front the link. Laurel scanned the Hunters guarding it. Although they had been able to avoid the rest of the welcoming committee there was no way to get around these.
"Those guys are too close to the link for us to risk a Decimator." Laurel observed, "Our best option may just be to come out of the trees all guns blazing."
"While I do not share the love of huge explosions you two have," Yayap said, "I am forced to agree." Gagaw visibly perked up at these words and hefted his quad barrel fuel-rod gun.
"We can use our camo generators to get a little extra advantage but well need to deactivate them so they don't get fried by the EMP from the Hunter's guns."
* * *
Tarn-Nopochee stood amongst his Hunter brothers. His armor clacked as he shifted his colossal weight about. He glanced at Marta-Nopachee and noticed he seemed quite nervous and was sniffing at the air. Marta had always had the best nose so if he was nervous then Tarn had a feeling he should be too.
"What do you smell brother?"
"I smell Human, and Grunt." Marta-Nopochee said, "Coming from that direction" He pointed to a strand of dense trees.
A moment later Tarn-Nopochee saw a small distortion in the air. At first he thought it was just the heat but he soon realized what it really was and was about to call out when he felt a sharp blade sink into his back.
* * *
Half the Hunters were down before they realized what was happening. Unfortunately the whole invisible stab in the back idea had backfired. Now they were stuck in the middle of a large crowd of very angry Hunters.
Laurel switched from her titanium combat knife to a plasma sword. She had had her plasma sword specially designed to be reminiscent of the ones used on earth many centuries ago. She cut through the Hunters yet they still kept coming. Gagaw had decided to keep using his fuel-rod cannon and was blasting through Hunter after Hunter. Yayap carried a pair of plasma pistols that had been retrofitted to shoot Sentinel Beams in short rapid bursts.
The battle was over in only a few moments, and the three jumped into the link.
* * *
James kneeled before 'Zazuhamee, once again carrying bad news. "I am afraid the New Covenant insurgents have made it to the last outer shard. They will be on this shard if they reach the next link.
"Then let them come," Replied 'Zazuhamee, "I can handle them."
"My lord I must ask that you reco---"
"---No, I know what I am doing"
"Yes my lord." James turned and walked out.
As he left 'Zazuhamee could sense his nervousness and chuckled to himself. "Yes I can handle them."
* * *
"Am I the only one who thinks it is suspicious that this place is empty." Yayap asked.
"There should be a massive amount of troops here, and there aren't any." Laurel said.
"Last shard, no guard, maybe 'Zazuhamee become retard!" Gagaw giggled at his own riming ability.
"Well lets keep moving." Laurel said.
* * *
'Zazuhamee sat in his throne room and waited. He had no doubt that he could beat the three New Covenant, he had stolen their shield technology and added a deadly new feature.
The doors hissed open and the three New Covenant walked in. 'Zazuhamee stood up. A layer of plasma began to build up over his shield until he looked like a glowing green being of pure energy "So," He flicked his wrist and a plasma sword appeared, "you come at last."




Chapter 9
*Gagaw fired three bursts from his fuel-rod gun at 'Zazuhamee. The strange plasma coating around his armor simply absorbed the blasts and actually became bigger.
"No goodness coming from that." Gagaw said nervously.
"I'll handle this," Laurel said, "Gagaw, get back to the entrance of this complex. Hold off any reinforcements. Yayap, find the second control center."
Gagaw quickly turned and ran back the way they had come. Yayap hesitated and looked at Laurel. "Are you sure you can handle him?"
"No," Laurel said, "but what other option do we have?"
Yayap nodded and disappeared down a side tunnel.
* * *
Gagaw crouched in the entrance to 'Zazuhamee's palace. Over one hundred hunters were storming toward the palace steps and Gagaw doubted his fuel rod gun was up to the task of dealing with that many Hunters. Plus he was worried about the battle with 'Zazuhamee in the throne room.
He retreated back about one hundred feet into the palace and braced himself for the Hunter's arrival.
* * *
Laurel ducked as 'Zazuhamee swung his sword and quickly jabbed at him with her own but he easily deflected the assault. They danced back and forth their blades slicing through the air. Laurel felt herself tiring from the constant motion, slash, block, slash, block.
'Zazuhamee's strange plasma coated shields glowed and hissed as if the were alive and full of rage. "Human, why do you fight?" 'Zazuhamee said. "You know you will lose, why not just give up?"
"We humans believe that a lost cause is always worth fighting for, makes us much more dangerous enemies than if we just gave in every time we might lose." Laurel replied.
"I can assure you," 'Zazuhamee said, "you will lose."
* * *
Yayap moved quickly and quietly down the twisting passages of 'Zazuhamee's palace. He avoided combat where he could and a pair of needler SMG's took care of anything he couldn't. A pair of Hunters roared a challenge and he brought his guns to bare.
Instead of penetrating the soft exposed skin between the Hunter's armor plated the needles bounced off what appeared to be some sort of energy shield. "Damn they have shields now!" Yayap dived out of the way as one of the hunters lunged in an attempt to slash the Grunt with the blades protruding from his back. Unfortunately by dodging one Hunter Yayap had placed himself directly in front of the other one.
The Hunter brought up his foot to smash the Grunt and Yayap saw his opportunity. The exposed patches of skin on the bottom of the Hunter's feet did not appear to be shielded. He stuck a plasma grenade on the vulnerable patch and rolled out of the way as the foot came crashing down. The path of least resistance under the Hunter's foot was not where the foot met the ground but, due to the Hunter's extreme weight, up through the hunter's flesh. When the plasma grenade went off the plasma took the path of least resistance.
One Hunter down Yayap turned to the other. It charged him but did not raise it's feet high enough to let them become a liability. This Hunter was smart and Yayap knew the same trick would no work twice. He dashed through the next door and as it shut behind him he used his sentinel beam pistols to weld it shut. "That will slow him down."
* * *
Gagaw pulled the fuel rod cannon's trigger and groaned in dismay as there was a sputter and it's battery empty alarm chimed. His weapons and grenades were all depleted and ironically there was only one hunter left. After defeating whole legions of the creatures one sole Hunter was going to be the end of the Grunt.
Gagaw ducked and rolled but he had no where to hide and he could not fight back. Only dodge the Hunter's weapon's blasts and side step the creature's vicious charges. He suddenly felt his foot catch on the arm of one of the Hunter's dead brothers and Gagaw fell to the ground. He stared defiantly at the Hunter as it brought up it's shield for the killing blow.

* * *
Laurel parried yet another of 'Zazuhamee's merciless blows and stumbled to the ground. Elites had evolved to never tire and never stop until somebody was dead. Humans, however, had their limits. Laurel knew she was doomed and hoped Yayap and Gagaw were fairing better than her. Just then a Hunter walked into the room.
"We have slain the New Covenant fool that tried to keep us out of the palace but he took the lives of many of my brothers." The Hunter said. "May I have the honor of killing this one as well to help avenge the fallen?"
"Very well" 'Zazuhamee said.
* * *
Yayap stopped and gasped for breath. He had been running through these passages for what seemed like an eternity searching for the second control center. He stood in front of a door that had the markings normally associated with a primary function chamber. Whether or not it was the control center remained to be seen.
The door hissed open and Yayap stepped in. This was it. He was sure of that but he realized it might take a while to figure out where to input the activation codes. The room was filled with holo-panels and strange contraptions. As he began read the text that flowed across the displays he noticed a reflection on one of the screens. Yayap spun around and stood face to face with 'Zazuhamee. His strange plasma coating was gone but he still carried his sword and a look of triumph was on his face.
"Your friends are dead and soon you shall join them, but first i would like you to tell me something. Why did you come here? Obviously my death was not your primary objective. Does it have to do with this room? I have always wondered what it's porpoise was." 'Zazuhamee said as he advanced on the grunt.
Yayap took a small silver sphere out of a container on his belt and hit a small button. A small red light on the device began to blink. "Its called a nuclear grenade, in sixty seconds this place will be a crater. It takes at least two minutes to get out by foot but if you take the grav lift u might make it."
'Zazuhamee ran as fast as he could toward the door. A pair of Hunters walked in and he glanced at them. "Kill the Grunt but do not hit the device he holds" 'Zazuhamee said and disappeared into the passage.

Chapter 10
*Gagaw rolled out of the way and came up behind the Hunter. He brought up his empty fuel rod gun and brought it crashing down on the Hunter's exposed back. It tore through the Hunter's flesh and the creature dropped to the ground, dead instantly.
Gagaw stared at the Hunter's cloven back. "Major regrets on my part this is gonna make." he said and began to scoop out the Hunter's insides.
The Hunter turned out to be little different on the inside than it was on the outside. Hunters are actually hundreds of small worms that have joined together both their minds and bodies. Because of this bondage of mind not all the worms bodies must be killed for the rest to die.
Gagaw scraped aside the inner worms and left the outer layers. He squeezed inside and almost chocked from the smell, the Hunter may not have been too nasty inside but it sure was stinky.
Gagaw tried to breath through his mouth as he made his way to Zazuhamee's throne room in his new Hunter disguise. As he entered the door Gagaw saw Laurel fall to the ground and did the only thing he could think of, "We have slain the New Covenant fool that tried to keep us out of the palace but he took the lives of many of my brothers." He said, "May I have the honor of killing this one as well to help avenge the fallen?"
"Very well" 'Zazuhamee said. "I shall go after the other grunt. Come when you are done with the Human."
With that 'Zazuhamee disappeared into the passage leading deeper into the palace. As soon as he was gone Laurel stood up. "You make a pretty good Hunter Gagaw," she said, "But you need to work on the voice. A Hunter's voice is a littler more guttural."
"That how you be recognition me?" Gagaw asked.
"Hunters are also taller." Laurel glanced the way 'Zazuhamee had gone, "Where did u get that?"
"Its real good stink," Gagaw warned.
"That just makes the disguise better. Plus I've always wanted to be a half ton walking tank."
* * *
Laurel and Gagaw made their way into the depth's of 'Zazuhamee's palace. They encountered no resistance but plenty of bodies to mark which way Yayap had gone. After a while the pair made it to a small door similar to the one leading to the main control center back in New Covenant territory. I think this is it Laurel said and stepped forward. Sensing her approach the door opened revealing a large room beyond.
As the door finished opening 'Zazuhamee rushed out. "Kill the Grunt but do not hit the device he holds" the Elite said and disappeared into the tunnel leading back to the surface.
As Laurel and Gagaw entered the control room Yayap turned to one of the holo-panels and hit a couple of buttons. "I only know the first half of the code. Laurel, you must enter the second."
"How did you know it was us?" Laurel asked.
"Too short, hurry up."
Laurel tapped a few keys. "There now what?"
"We hope the others enter the codes." Yayap said and turned away. "We have done all that we can."
Just then Laurel noticed the numbers on the small device in Yayap's hand go from reading 01 to 00 and there was a flash...


END OF PART ONE
Yayap 2 chapter 1 is here:

Gagaw awoke to the worst headache of his life. He blinked and looked around the forerunner control room. All the holo panels were off and the only light came from some glowing fungus on the walls. Laurel and Yayap were also just waking up a few feet away.
"Dammit Yayap why did you have to set that thing off?" Laurel clutched her head.
"I tricked 'Zazuhamee into thinking that EMP was a nuclear grenade." Yayap said Defensively, "If I hadn't done it he would have killed us."
"Why you not being deactivating it once he being gone?" Gagaw asked, "Save us all from big headache eh?"
"If I had deactivated it 'Zazuhamee would have been able to escape, Now he is trapped." Yayap said, "His banshees will not be able to take off."
"You could have at least warned us, instead of just letting that thing go off without a word." Laurel said.
Yayap got a mischievous look, "And spoil the surprise? Never. We should get going."
Gagaw walked after Yayap and Laurel as they climbed back to the surface. He was so tired he just wanted to curl into a ball and fall fast asleep but he trudged on.
About ten minutes later they emerged into 'Zazuhamee's throne room. It was eerily quiet. The main entrance door was shut but it appeared that someone had gone through the door behind 'Zazuhamee's throne and not bothered to close it.
"'Zazuhamee must have gone that way." Laurel said and pointed to the door. The three went through it and found it lead to a grav lift which appeared to stretch to the top of the palace. It was active which mean it had been EMP shielded.
"Well, this appears to be our only way. Get ready, 'Zazuhamee could be waiting at the top." Yayap reached into a nearby storage compartment and pulled out six plasma rifles, handing two to Laurel and two to Gagaw.
"I would prefer a needle rifle but I guess these will have to do." Laurel said as she examined the plasma rifles. She Lifted them up and stepped into the grav beam. Yayap was right behind her.
"I hope this thing doesn't shut down while I be on it" Gagaw said and stepped into the beam. He felt the strange sensation that he was in a space craft that had a malfunction with it's artificial gravity and then he began to rise.
* * *
'Zazuhamee jumped out of the grav lift and quickly glanced around. James was waiting beside a pair of banshees.
"One of the Grunts has a nuke, Lets get out of here." 'Zazuhamee called.
"Ok I have the bansh---" A wave of energy blasted up through the opening for the grav lift and engulfed the hanger, cutting James off.
'Zazuhamee got to his feet a moment later, his shields had taken the majority of the damage but he had a headache that could crush a tank. James was unconscious on the floor and 'Zazuhamee decided to leave him. Maybe his body would cause the New Covenant to pause their pursuit. 'Zazuhamee was sure now that they were still alive. If that had been a real nuke he would be just a few stray atoms right now.
* * *
James woke up on the floor of the hanger. 'Zazuhamee was gone and so was one of the banshees. He heard the grav lift activate. It must be to New Covenant insurgents James thought. He drew his plasma sword and prepared to drive them back to the hell they came from.

Chapter 2!!!!

Laurel, Yayap and Gagaw emerged from the grav lift at the same time. They were already half way to the remaining banshee before they heard the muffled sound of boots following them. Laurel ducked and a plasma sword sliced where her neck had been a moment before. Gagaw and Yayap spun around and fired at James as he lunged once again at Laurel. She was able to roll out of the way and James went skidding across the floor, his plasma sword flew off the edge of the platform and fell to the ground far below.
James scrambled backwards until he was leaning over nothing but air. He took one last look at the three New Covenant and let him self fall over the side.
Laurel, Gagaw, and Yayap ran to the edge and looked down. Far below they could see a small body crumpled in a pool of blood.
"Well that was strange." Yayap said "Why did he just let him self go like that? After he failed to kill you he just stopped fighting."
"The spartans were taught that failure meant death in war," Laurel said "They took it too literally."
"Man that big stupidity in my point of view." Gagaw said rather puzzled by the spartans actions.
"Lets find 'Zazuhamee," Yayap said "Everybody in the banshee."
"How three be fitting?" Gagaw asked, "we only be having one."
"I am the biggest so I'll drive," Laurel sid "one of you on each wing."
"That's the general idea." said Yayap and walked over to the banshee. Laurel and Gagaw followed.
* * *
'Zazuhamee did a barrel roll to avoid a stream of plasma. The three New Covenant had all gotten onto the second Banshee and were chasing him. The grunts, one on each wing, had plasma rifles and were peppering 'Zazuhamee's craft with fire while the Human, driving, fired the banshee's main cannon.
'Zazuhamee knew he couldn't win an air battle and landing would just get him killed. He had to find a way to give himself some sort of advantage, or at least an escape rout. They were reaching the edge of the shard and 'Zazuhamee got an idea.
* * *
Laurel coaxed every bit of speed out of the Banshee. If 'Zazuhamee escaped they might ever find him again and she wasn't about to let that happen. They reached the edge of the shard and instead of turning away from the energy shield that kept in the atmosphere 'Zazuhamee turned into a dive and flew between the shield and the torn up end of the shard where this piece of Halo had been connected to the rest of the once mighty installation.
As they flew downwards Gagaw looked up, he could see another shard through the shield and it was close, too close. Then, it got closer.
"Problem!" Gagaw squealed "It gonna hit us!"
"What is gonna--" Laurel glanced up and saw the shard flying towards them. Only then did she remember that Halo was reassembling its self.
* * *
Yayap saw the shard rushing towards them, he yelled a warning but suddenly there was no sound. No sound at all, and no air, and no anything. Laurel had flew through the shield and was heading toward the other shard!
Yayap felt his body slow, the vacuum was pulling at him, killing him. Right before he blacked out from the pain Yayap saw an opening in the new shard, a room that had been split open when the two pieces of Halo separated. If Laurel got them in there they wouldn't be crushed when the shards came together.
* * *
Gagaw woke up inside a dimply lit room, his skin was swollen and bleeding. Even the exposure to space for less than a full second had almost killed him. Laurel and Yayap were both standing by the Banshee and looked even worse than Gagaw. Just then a strange being walked into the room from a door off to one side.
"What are you?" asked Laurel in astonishment.
"I," said the creature "am a Forerunner."

Chapter 2.3!!!


Yayap glared at the creature, "Explain how that is possible."
"Some of us, were not willing to let our selves be wiped out by the Halos. We fled this galaxy before they were activated. We should never have done that." The creature looked like he meant what he said so Yayap decided to at least give him the benefit of the doubt.
"I will assume for a second that you are a forerunner." Yayap said, "Would trying to save yourselves be a bad thing?"
"The flood followed us, followed us to a new galaxy rich with sentient life. We led them to a feeding ground that was safe from the Halos. They now control that entire galaxy. The Flood allow the species to live on, they take a certain percentage of each new generation for hosts. They even infect multiple creatures that evolved to live in the vacuum of space. They use those hosts as space craft to transport them from planet to planet. If they ever return to this galaxy, no power will be great enough to stop them." The Forerunner began to walk away and then turned back, "Follow me."
"Should we trust him?" Laurel asked.
"Do we have a choice? He is the only one who can get us out of here." Yayap answered and walked after the forerunner.
* * *
Laurel gripped the side of the Pelican Drop ship and stared out the back. "Where are we going?" She asked the Forerunner.
"Why to your people of course, they control Halo and because of that they may be the only hope to stopping the flood." The Forerunner said.
"No way!" Yayap cried, "We're not activating the Halos."
"Halo is also a ship, it could easily defeat any flood fleet that opposed it." The Forerunner said, "We must take Halo to the Flood's Galaxy and defeat them."
"You not able to defeat the flood with seven Halos, what make you think we be defeating them with one?" Gagaw asked.
"Most of the Floods Forerunner hosts have died long age. When Flood infected a Forerunner body something in the Flood's molecular makeup changed. The Flood infection form began to emit full body shields, not only for the Host but for all flood within a huge radius. The shields are about as strong as the standard full body shields used by a covenant Elite. There is, however, one crucial difference. The Flood shields become stronger from plasma impacts. Only needler crystals and Human weapons are effective. This rendered most of our weapons useless against the flood."
"Could they survive plasma bombardment from space?" Yayap asked.
"Yes, that is why i need your help personally, there are bound to be a few Forerunner Flood left so I need you to infiltrate flood held planets before they are bombarded. Kill the Forerunner hosts." The Forerunner said.
"You are being big insanity" Gagaw said.
"I heartily agree" Laurel and Yayap said in unison.

"I understand your reluctance," the creature said, "Come to our base of operations, there we will brief you and you can choose your path."
"When you say 'we' so you mean other Forerunners?" Yayap asked.
"Yes, other--" the creature chuckled, "Forerunner."
Laurel raised her eyebrow quizzically but said nothing. She instead intertwined herself with poking at a piece of what appeared to be some sort of plant matter that had dropped onto the floor. It was beige and rubbery and Laurel could have sworn she had seen something like it before but could not remember where.
"We are nearing our base," the Forerunner said, "prepare for landing."
As the pelican touched down the four passengers dropped out. A long stretch of beach lay before them, curving around this apparently small island.
"I recognize this place," Yayap said, "this is the Silent Cartographer island.
"Correct," said the Forerunner, "and it is our temporary HQ." He walked up the beach to a structure dug into the cliff wall. Climbing up a dirt ramp on one side they entered the complex.
As they walked down a sloping passage Laurel glanced down and noticed a few more bits of beige matter, it diphinetly looked like plant matter... or, no the though was too horrible, they were gone. They had been wiped out a year after halo's destruction... or had they?
As the three pased an small crate Laurel noticed it was full of human shot guns and bags of shells. She quickly reached in, pulling three shot guns and three bags out. She slung one of the weapons and it's spare ammo overe her shoulder. The others she distributed between Gagaw and Yayap.
"What u want us do with these?" Gagaw asked?
Laurel pointed to one of the pieces of gray matter and said, "That is a piece of flesh from a Flood Combat form. It falls off of them as the host decays."
***
Yayap glanced at the Forerunner. He did not look shocked or afraid. He seemed disspaointed that Laurel had identified the object.
"It is too bad you realized what that was, you may have been allowed to walk free a little longer if you hadent." The forerunner (though Yayap had doubts if he really was what he claimed) said.
Laurel leveled the shotgun with his head, "I think you are gonna call back that pelican and get us out of here."
The Creature laughed and Yayap noticed a few pieces of beige stuff fall from a ledge in the cieling. "They are above!" Yayap yelled to Laurel, "It's an ambush!"
As laurel glanced upwards ten flood combat forms dropped from the cealing...


2.4
Gagaw spun and fired as a combat form tried to grab him from behind. More were coming up from the inner complex and he knew it was only a matter of time before the Flood won. As he slowly retreated firing into the mass of combat forms he glanced into a nearby storage bin for anything he could use to stem the tide.
* * *
Yayap ducked as the nearest flood form tried to get his head take a permanent vacation from his neck. He raised his weapon and blasted the creature back into his brethren. Three carrier forms caught Yayap's attention. Each one carried a plasma grenade in it's hands. Yayap fired his gun and one of the pellets from it slammed into the middle form's grenade. The grenade exploded, setting off the other two. This killed all three carriers, the infection forms within them, and most of the surrounding flood as well. In the brief respite Yayap glanced around for the creature that led them to the island in the first place but there was no sign as to where he had gone.
"I recall there being a set of blast doors a little way down the passage," Yayap said to the other two, "if we can shut them we may be able get reinforcements. Try and--" a tentacle wrapped around Yayap's neck cutting him off. Laurel and Gagaw suffered similar fates. The creature that Yayap had been looking for a moment age also dropped down. He was now wielding a plasma sword and looked much more menacing than before.
"Why are you working with the flood?" Laurel asked.
The creature chuckled, "You still think I am a Forerunner. You still think this is my body. I am a flood form just like any other. I just happen to have a special host."
"So, you have a forerunner host? Then why haven't you decayed like the rest?" Asked Yayap.
"This is no forerunner. This is a biologically engineered host. Specially designed to be more compatible with us and to actually be alive while under my control. These hosts were originally designed by the forerunner themselves, they hoped that it would eliminate our need for hosts. Little did they know... we have literally no minds what so ever until after we have taken a sentient host and absorbed it's conscience." The creature walked forward and looked at the three. "Bring them." He said to the flood guards.
* * *
"We captured you for a very specific reason. Home worlds." The flood creature said.
"What you be meaning?" Gagaw asked.
"I mean that we want the locations of your home worlds, and we are willing to bargain for them." The creature continued, "You see all the hosts we take either don't know or have found some way to keep the information from us. You are rebels, you broke away from your species. The rewards we would offer for such information would be considerable. The price you and your fellows would pay if you refused us would be too terrible for you to comprehend."
"I may not like the Covenant but I still will not tell the location of their home world. I would rather have them around than you." Yayap said defiantly.
"I agree." Laurel said.
"That depends," Gagaw said, "what are the rewards?"
"We get hosts, and then we leave. We find another galaxy to prey upon. We only eliminate those who refuse to cooperate." The creature chuckled.
"And what if the home worlds be cooperating?" Gagaw asked.
"Then they will provide us with war ships and we shall leave them in peace." The creature turned to Laurel and Yayap, "See, this one knows how to deal."
"Yah, me be dealing with you!" Gagaw activator a plasma sword he had found in a crate and hidden it inside his armor. He threw the blade and it burned right through the creature's midsection, emerging from the other side. The creature fell to the floor but did not show any sign of pain.
"Kill them!" He cried, "Kill them all!"
* * *
Gagaw swung the butt of his shot gun like a mace, bashing any flood stupid enough to get near. Laurel now wielded a pair of SMG's, mowing down row after row of flood forms, each hoping to be the one to get through. Yayap had an Covenant Carbine which he used to shoot the flood infection forms right out of their hosts. The flood were now all coming from outside the structure. Driving the threesome back lower and lower. Eventually the group reached a dead end. A hologram of Halo glowed in the middle of the room. There was a balcony and only after retreating onto it did they realize there was no way off it except the way the had come from and that was filled with flood.
"They are going to push us off the cliff," Laurel cried, "we need to try something soon."
"Anything?" Asked Gagaw.
"Anything." Agreed Laurel
"Regret this I am going to." Gagaw grabbed a carrier form that had just waddled up and leapt off the edge of the shaft with it. About half way across the carrier exploded and gave the Grunt the lift he needed to get all the way across, landing on a ledge on the far side.
Laurel glanced back and almost forgot about the flood in their astonishment when they saw Gagaw's maneuver. A moment later they were able to perform the same feat and the three were safe, at least for the time being.
"Now what?" Asked Gagaw.
"You got us on this ledge, I assumed you had a plan to get us off." Yayap said
"You said try anything, you did not say think about what to do after you try it." Gagaw looked around nervously.
"If there is not a trap door on this thing somewhere I swear I will kill something, something that got us up here in the first place." Laurel said, turning to Gagaw.
"You mean the flood right?" Gagaw asked nervously

2.5

The flood forms congregated on the far side of the shaft. Completely bewildered as to how their prey escaped. On the other side Laurel, Yayap, and Gagaw tried to find a way off their ledge.
Gagaw kicked one of the many glowing panels that the Forerunners seemed to favor. Hoping that it would open a door or something to the general effect of getting them far away. It did get them far away, but not in the direction Gagaw had hoped. The ledge suddenly dropped away and the three were plummeting down the shaft.
"Smooth move Gagaw, first you get us stuck on a ledge, then you manage to make the ledge go away." Laurel drifted beside Gagaw and looked at him. Of course drifted was only Gagaw's perception of it, really they were just plummeting to their deaths at the same speed. Yayap seemed to plummeting a little fatter. This may have been due to the fact that he had recently become quite addicted after Laurel introduced him to a drug the humans called chocolate.
"Look on the bright side, there is a one in ten billion chance that we will survive the impact due to our grav armor. That means if we find a way to make ten billion clones of ourselves before we hit the end of this tunnel one of each of our clones will survive." Yayap called from below.
"Great, thanks Yayap, you are a genius." Laurel called, "Got any other ideas from the think tank?"
"I do." Gagaw volunteered.
"uhoh, this cannot be good." Laurel said.
"If we toss plasma grenades a little below us the shock wave will slow us down enough to land on another ledge with ought dying." Gagaw looked nervously at the other two.
"Great, then we will be back where we started from." Yayap said exasperated.
"Not necessarily, Some have tunnels, we can try dropping from ledge to ledge until we find one." Laurel called.
* * *
Two hours later the three stood in front of a small door. They were all tired, soar, and had plasma burns.
"If this is a dead end we be dying for absolutely certainty." Gagaw remarked.
Laurel hefted he shotgun, "and guess who will die first."
"Shut up you two, lets just find a way to get this thing open." Yayap scolded. He felt along the door for some kind of latch or mechanism. After a moment's tinkering the door opened with a hiss. Inside a long tunnel filled with holo-panels and blue lights beckoned. As the three entered the door hissed shut behind them.
"This is creepy." Gagaw said, "it just is forever going on."
"It cannot extend more than one hundred miles straight without hitting the next shaft." Laurel was the only one who bothered to study Halo architecture. She stopped and examined a particularly prominent holo-panel. She tapped a few buttons on it and a part of the wall opened to reveal a small lift. "We have our escape rout." Laurel said and grinned.
"I am happy being understatement of my relieved nervousness." Gagaw said happily.
The three walked onto the lift platform and Yayap manipulated a small holo-panel to activate it. The lift hummed to life and began to ascend. After about half an hour the platform ground to a halt in front of a small doorway.
"I hope this is not going to be another boring hallway." Yayap said and walked forward. The doors hissed apart and revealed something none of them had expected. A spartan clad in their trademark green armor stood silently before them.
"You did not really think I was dead did you?" James asked and leveled his assault rifle.

EPILOGUE

The easter bunny comes and eats Yayap, then laurel and gagaw get married and the spartan becomes a stripper for the flood... the end.


The following was not typed by me
And the bazzar ending came when the Author Rebel Grunt on mac.clanhalo.net cracked up and threw in a random ending
so we will never find out what happend to the stipper eh spartan

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