 |
About This Site
Daily Musings
News
News Archive
Site Resources
FAQ
Screenshots
Concept Art
Halo 2 Updates
Interviews
Movies
Music
Miscellaneous
Mailbag
HBO PAL
Game Fun
The Halo Story
Tips and Tricks
Fan Creations
Wallpaper
Misc. Art
Fan Fiction
Comics
Logos
Banners
Press Coverage
Halo Reviews
Halo 2 Previews
Press Scans
Community
HBO Forum
Clan HBO Forum
HBO IRC Channel
Links
Admin
Submissions
FTP Uploads
HTTP Uploads
Contact
|
|
|
Halo 2: The End
Posted By: Eric Gunther<ericgunther7@hotmail.com>
Date: 22 July 2002, 2:51 am
Read/Post Comments
|
Had you seen the cheery smiles and joyous laughter rising amidst the sweet aroma of fresh turkey in the south cafeteria, one would assume everyone was having a jolly time. Nevertheless, what meets the eye is nothing compared to the tragic stories and bitter recollections trapped within each living man in that God forsaken cafeteria.
Each one was a different story, each marine had his own page in this great chapter in human existence, possibly the final saga in the book. As human existence was getting so much closer to extinction, so was the overall morale. The covenant had not only struck devastating economical and physical blows at the human race, it had done a great job on the human attitude towards the situation.
Things were looking quite bleak for humans everywhere, as regular men fought against superior aliens, fighting for freedom. Men looked desperately for a hero to arise, but alas none were to be found. Rumors had been floating around about Master Chief, the greatest warrior of the legendary Spartans, leading a successful attack against a Covenant secret weapon, but rumors were rumors. According to most accurate logs, the Master Chief was left dead on Reach along with hundreds of others of his kind.
James Lakeview, marine, was sitting at his usual spot in the cafeteria, chatting quietly with his militia buddy's about women, though for almost all of them the closest they had recently been to a woman was the stash of playboys in the quarters.
The last few years had been hard, fighting a nonstop war against the Covenant, never giving up on the fight, but every man knowing it was over. The only thing that kept them going was the realization that they could live a full life still, as the war had raged already almost 70 years.
Then, quite out of the blue, the cafeteria erupted with the shrill cacophony of a hundred emergency rings, and shreds of red lights flashing against every corner. The cafeteria which had been home to happiness only five seconds ago was now a veritable hell. James Lakeview stumbled out of his seat and dashed to the exit nearest his quarters. All men were to suit up when the emergency alarm went off, and to head to your battle stations.
Quite luckily for James he managed to get his gear on fast, though it only consisted of the typical armor, pistol, and assault rifle, the belongings of every marine. In great urgency, James ran to his battle station and stood prepared to fight. It was obvious the covenant had infiltrated the bunker and were most likely approaching the marines in an endless flood of attack.
As James stood at his post, pistol at his hip, assault rifle ready, he pondered the Covenant's reasoning for attacking this bunker in particular. Why would they waste an attack on a small, for the most part harmless, routine bunker on a tiny, practically uncharted planet? It just didn't make sense.
Despite being lost in his thoughts, James soon heard the crashes on the deck above, along with the expected screams of agony and death. James scanned the area around him, only his fellow marines with him, the squad leader facing the empty hall way, eyes glued to the transport ramp several hundred feet away.
In a matter of 45 seconds the covenant came crashing through the ramp and all bloody hell broke out. Men hid behind pillars, dodging plasma bullets, as others tried to brave the forces only to be slain at there spot. As training taught all marines, the best method to fighting is to hide, then shoot. Hide then shoot.
James had become quite the expert marksman in his last years and watched several covenant fall under his bullets. However, the covenant were too strong, and pressed forward like a raging tidal wave.
Just as the covenant were about to envelope the small squad, the squad leader, who had fond a safe haven in a side hall, called for a retreat to another empty hallway. The marines a little confused, but relieved, sprinted away from the crimson mess behind them. James ran as fast as his legs could carry him, but tripped in his rush and fell hard onto the titanium floor. His body was open to all fire, and James sensed death breathing heavy upon his neck.
Then, suddenly, as the Covenant approached James menacingly, he was yanked hard into safety by a rough leather glove. He could feel inhuman strength in the hand that pulled him away and James turned around in astonishment.
Now it was so clear why the Covenant had attacked this bunker. James Lakeview was staring straight into the gold visor of the most revered human ever to step foot on the battlefield. Master Chief was alive and he was prepared for war.
As James stood there dumbfounded, Master Chief pulled out his assault rifle and jumped straight in the Covenant line of fire. The whole squadron stared in awe as Master Chief sprayed bullets in every direction. Almost every bullet hit its mark right in the center of a Covenant head and Master Chief made the absolute best of his 60 bullet magazine.
Once all his magazine was used up, Master Chief dodged back into the cover of the empty hallway, only to see the whole squad standing, doing nothing.
"Fight," Master Chief ordered, while pulling a rocket launcher off his shoulder. "You too." He threw his assault rifle over to the squad leader, who looked at Master Chief with a quizzical expression.
Ignoring the squad's reaction, Master Chief slammed two rockets into the rear of the rocket launcher, stepped swiftly into the action, and fired one rocket. The explosion sent several Covenant flying, hitting the walls with sick thuds. Some marines were caught off guard by the explosion and fell back. Master Chief, seeing that the Covenant was decreasing quickly in this particular spot, motioned for everyone to retreat back, as he fired one last rocket at the seven covenant left in the crowded hall.
In a few seconds, Master Chief was back with the squad, and he dashed to the squad leader. "More Covenant will come soon, but we need to stay here. I saw a grunt radio his superior, so we'll likely see a wave of elite's soon. I don't want your men acting like heros, when we see the Covenant we get the hell outa here. Head to the nearest exit and enter any vehicles around. Then we beeline right to the closest hanger and we get off this planet. Understood?"
"Who the hell do you think you are?" the Sargeant replied, perturbed that Master Chief had taken his authority.
"Do you understand?" Master Chief shouted, his patience non existant.
"No I don't. And don't you think-"
Master Chief interrupted, "One word out of you after now and I will kill you here in this bunker."
The Sargeant quickly shut up.
A nearby marine, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation made remark to Master Chief, "Then why don't we get out now? Why wait for the elites to come and kick our ass?"
"I'll explain that later-right now we have to concentrate on getting off this planet."
"Yes sir," the enthusiastic marine replied, "But I'm still confused."
BOOM!
"Dammit! They're here!" a frightened marine yelped.
Master Chief screamed to his troops, "Run, run, run! Get the hell out of this place, I'll catch up." A matter of only moments passed before a pack of covenant elites broke into the hallway. Master Chief waited just long enough for the Covenant to get a good look at him before he ran off with superior speed.
As he dashed down the corridor, gaining momentum with every step, Master Chief felt plasma bullets penetrate the back of his armor. After a long while of keeping silence, Cortana finally piped up, commenting, "You're shields are taking some devastating blows. I can't recharge them until you're out of combat, either that or get them off your back for a few seconds."
Wordlessly, Master Chief pulled a fragmentation grenade from his utility belt and whipped it behind him. Seconds later a deafening blast sent shrapnel flying in all sorts of directions, taking out at least three elites.
"Works for me," Cortana said and recharged her bosses' shields in a snap.
The chase was in full fledge when Master Chief finally caught up with the squad, who appeared breathless and ragged. "No time to whimper out men, just a little more and we're home free!" Master Chief yelled and pushed several marines through the now open door to the outside world. As the last marine popped through the exit, the elites arrived, welcomed with a final fragmentation grenade, with an aftermath long enough for Master Chief to get out with his troop.
The door closed just in time, though the Covenant would easily blow their way through soon. Gratefully, the marines hopped into three warthogs, two of which took off right away towards the hanger. The third warthog sat there dormant, waiting impatiently for Master Chief who was running like a mad man towards it.
Then the elites broke through the door, firing plasma bullets in a panicked frenzy. Several plasma grenades were tossed to Master Chief and he luckily dodged them, but soon enough he found himself in the passenger seat of the warthog, which left in pursuit of it's allies.
Though things seemed safe, the Covenant had different plans, and an elite sharp-shooter popped a bullet right through the driver's head. Crimson blood spilled all over the jeep and Master Chief, but it was no time to cry over lost men; Master Chief shoved the dead body out the open door, and floored the pedal.
In a last ditch effort, a volley of plasma grenades were sent in direction of the warthog, two of which found there mark on the read bumper. Master Chief heard the marine manning the gunner scream panicky curses; he was a sure dead man.
"The grenades have a three second fuse," Cortana said worried, "Get out now while you still can and run to the hanger. You're much faster than the elites."
"No, we can make it-"
The grenades exploded simultaneously, sending the warthog flipping forward into the ground. The vehicle hit the hard, rocky surface with a metallic clang, causing an even bloodier mess than before. The jeep had most likely been thrown twenty feet forward, causing the gunner marine to land his corpse right on top of Master Chief, stuck in a pile of twisted metal.
Despite a severely damaged suit of armor, Master Chief was surprisingly ok, and sprinted away from the elites who charged in with screams of victory. Today just wasn't their day though, Master Chief was simply too fast and made it to the hanger way before the covenant.
As the emergency escape ship lifted into the upper atmosphere, Master Chief watched the elite's become dispatched by a huge army of marines. "A little late," he muttered under his ragged and labored breaths.
While what was left of the squad tried to recuperate, they all were interested to find out why Master Chief had suddenly showed up and taken them out of battle. James Lakeview, always one to give his opinion, queried Master Chief, "What was that all about?"
Master Chief pulled off his helmet and wiped the sweat off his face with a hand towel. "Complicated matters kid. Wait here, I need to talk to the pilot."
Master Chief stepped into the cockpit where he could be heard saying something about traveling to a planet called Krevtor.
The marines exchanged strange expressions, wondering, why would we go to Krevtor? It's the smallest of the humans colonies, and most of all, it was just a commercial docking port.
As if meaning to answer everyone's questions, Master Chief addressed all the soldiers at once, in an official tone of voice. "Ok men. We're going Krevtor, I'm sure you've all heard of it. You can all relax now, you won't see any fighting for a while."
"Hey, dude, what's happenin' here? I'm confused as hell," a marine said, followed by a chorus of "yeah."
"Ok-I guess I'll explain it all to you guys, you deserve to know. My name is Master Chief, I am a Spartan soldier, the last of the kind. I fought on Reach and barely managed to escape on the Pillar of Autumn. After being attacked by Covenant forces raiding the ship, I crash landed on a ring world, a lot like earth. There I led a guerrilla war against the Covenant, and ended up destroying the giant ring-it was a kind of secret weapon. There's a lot more to be explained about that story but-" Master Chief paused for a moment, "A week or two ago I was coming to this complex, as I had recently gotten out of the ring world, and I was looking for the closest human colony. I landed here and received hospitality from the bunker manager, but when I heard that the Covenant were attacking, I had to escape."
"Why escape, you a frickin' coward or something?" one cocky marine piped up.
"The Covenant were attacking the bunker because I was there, I know that's their sole reason. They were after me because I am the only force which has defeated them in a very large scale battle. They needed to destroy me, but they didn't."
One marine who was quite confused asked, "But what about that deal with the elites. Why didn't you just run with us, why wait for them to come and almost kill you?"
"Witnesses, I needed the Covenant to know I escaped, that way they would call the attack off. Now they're confused because they don't know where I am, and they have no clue that I'm going to Krevtor."
"So tell us about that whole ring world crap-I wanna hear about it," James Lakeview said, getting more comfortable, ready to hear a long story.
Master Chief was prepared to start his story when Cortana broke the relief with an urgent message. "Sir-the Covenant have found Earth!"
"WHAT!!?" Master Chief shouted, a sweat quickly breaking out on his brow.
"They've found it, I just picked up the information from a universal human frequency. The news just got out and it's being sent all over the galaxy." Cortana seemed very worried, for obvious reason.
"How'd they find out?"
"A mobile barracks ship was hijacked by a group of Covenant jackals, special ops of course."
"They ignored Cole Protocol?"
"Yes sir."
"Damn cowards-shit! What are we supposed to do know?"
"That's the worst part sir, we're completely out of range to help. The Covenant just found the information and chances are they are going to use it very fast, if they haven't started already. My guess is they have a secret weapon ready, this was planned."
"Did they initiate an evacuation of Earth yet?"
"So far about one billion are in escape ships."
"That's it!? Damn it! Cortana, take over the ship and send us straight to Earth. We're gonna do all we can." Master Chief unplugged Cortana faster than she could respond, and loaded her into the ships control system. In a matter of moments the ships coordinants were altered to the fastest route to Earth.
Being preoccupied with his concerns, it was then that Master Chief caught the agonizing looks of all the men on the ship. Each face showed unbelievable grief and pain; unlike Master Chief, these men had families, wives, children, emotions. That was the saddest part of being a Spartan; bread for war they said, and that means that emotions have to be erased from their minds. They still have the ability to use logic and reasoning, but almost all senses of fear and sadness were gone.
The following four hours were very uneventful ones, mostly consisting of crying and unmanly whimpering emitting from all the marines. Master Chief, however, stood by the radio, hoping for more information.
When they finally reached within a reasonable distance from Earth, everyone on the ship watched in devastated silence at the events occurring so close, yet far away. Some men even vomited at the sight, it was that bad.
Massive explosions were going off all over Earth, sending pieces of its surface flying into space. After three painful minutes of watching their home crumble, it was over. The Covenant had one the war, Earth was destroyed. Over 50 billion people died in that time period, all innocent humans, completely undeserving of this torture.
Sick of watching the unimaginable happen, all the marines sat down and began stripping themselves of their armor. One man, convinced it was all over, even shot himself in the head with his pistol. No one went to stop him, none of them cared, it was over. All they had fought for was destroyed because some men were afraid to die.
Watching his men discouraged and ragged, Master Chief spoke with more heart than any man could ever hope to muster up. "Well, they won men. They destroyed Earth-but," he paused for a few seconds, "They haven't destroyed us. And I'll be damned if I sit here and die like a little boy; we are going to fight. Maybe we don't have anything to fight for, but we are going to die fighting. The Covenant will pay-they will pay dearly. Gentleman the war may be over, but this battle is just beginning."
|
