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Halo: A Strange Tale by Gasmask
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Halo: A Strange Tale (Part 1)
Date: 11 January 2002, 11:47 pm
Covenant Ship "Faith and Honor."
February 1, 2553
Operation "Sabotage"
Shell casings ejected from the Master Chief's assault rifle and
fell to the floor, tinkling and smoking. A covenant elite dropped to
the floor, dead. Smoke still emitting from his barrel, the Master
Chief moved on. Through the dimly lit corridors he trod, making his
way closer and closer to his objective. Cortana spoke to him.
"Remember, we need to send a grenade through the main engine shaft to
destroy the ship."
"Don't worry," the Chief said, "I have a long term memory." He
stepped out into a large, dimly lit room, and surveyed the situation.
He was in the secondary shuttle bay, where he would need to be when
he was ready to escape. He slipped silently, as if he were a shadow,
through the main corridor door. It was better lit in here, so he
would have a good fix on his target if he were attacked. He heard
some slight chattering, and recognized the Grunts'rasping, gutteral
speach. He slowly side-stepped around the corner, and hit the
guarding grunt square in the back of the head with his rifle. The
grunt fell to the ground, squealing in pain, blood oozing from his
head. There were more of them spilling out of other passages, plasma
bolts flying and hitting around him, and needles trying to find their
target. But the Master Chief was too quick for them. He side stepped,
and twenty-five lead nosed and very eloquent speakers found targets.
Three grunts ran away in terror seeing their five buddies hit the
floor in a crumpled heap. The Master Chief began after them, but
Cortana rebuked him. "That's the wrong way! Try to keep our goal in
mind."
"Yes, mother," he grumbled as he turned around.
"You know," Cortana said, "We'll never get this done if you
continue to..." The Master Chief hit his helmate to shut her up.
"Oh, have it your way then."
The Chief ran forward. He stopped in front of the door. He hit the
activation switch, and observed the situation. The tech aliens that
they had encountered before were maintaining their stations while
three grunts and an Elite swordsman patrolled the area.
"Too easy," he said under his breath. He threw a plasma grenade and
stuck it to one of the techs. It waved its tentacles furiously, and
hovered about. Then it exploded, taking several other techs with it.
The Elite and grunts attacked. The Elite ran quickly, but the chief
was faster. He turned the elite into nothing more than cole-cuts with
his assault rifle. The grunts ran away in terror. Cautiously, he
stepped into the room a little bit more. The doors in front of him
and in back of him locked. "Oh, crap," he muttered. He could guess
what was coming next. He was right. He got two large, red dots coming
into the room from above him. They were Hunters. They powered up
their fuel rod cannons just as the Master Chief dove behind a pillar.
One of them let off a shot. The pillar shook, and began to crumble.
The Spartan lept out of the way. He aimed strait for a hunter's head
and fired. Bullets peppered the shield, and about a third hit the
hunter. The monster recoiled, and then lept off the ledge. His buddy
jumped down with him. They both charged. The M.C. lept out of the
way, just in time. He slid on the floor and opened up on one of the
hunters backs. Orange blood spewed from the alien's wound, and he
slumped to the ground, never to stir again. The other hunter charged
up his cannon and fired. This time the Chief was not so lucky. An
indirect blast took out half of his shield, and the hunter was now
charging. He shook his head to regain his wits and lept over the
monster's head. He put his last three shots of the clip into the
Hunter's back. The monster recoiled, then turned for another charge.
Not stopping to reload, the Cheif once again sidestepped, and smacked
the Hunter with the butt of his rifle. This was the last blow needed
too take down the beast, and it fell in a tangled, bloody heap.
"Quick," Cortana said, "Find the access switch so we can get out of
here once we blow this thing." The chief walked over to a holo
pannel, and hit the deactivation switch. The doors hissed open.
"There's something I don't understand, though. My records indicate
that the engine shaft should be here." The Chief looked up. "Your
records," he whispered, smoothly, "indicate correctly." Above them
was a tube that an electronic beam shot through.
"That's it! Chief, blow it away!"
The Chief chucked a frag grenade, and it bounced off of the tube.
"Oh, crap!" the Chief yelled as he dove for cover. "Did your
records indicate that there was a stinkin' SHIELD over the shaft?" he
growled.
"Oh, can it," she said, "I'm only human."
The chief's mind raced. How could he destroy it. He looked at the
hunter's bodies. "That's it!" he exclaimed. He ripped off one of the
Hunter's arms to get its cannon. He flew up a small flight of stairs
to the ledge above him where the hunters had emerged. He walked
around the catwalk until he could jump up onto the tube. He lay the
hunter's arm on a shiled. "One shield plus one fuel rod cannon and
plasma grenade," the Chief began.
"Chief? What are you going to..." Cortana asked.
"Equals..." the Chief whispered.
"Chief! Are you crazy?" Cortana screamed as the chief threw a
plasma grenade on the fuel rod cannon. There was a horrendous
explosion, and the Chief was blown backwards. The shield was
destroyed.
"...total carnage," the Chief ended as he got to his feet. He
threw a frag grenade, then jumped to the floor. His shield was half
gone when he hit the ground because the king daddy of all explosions
was following him. He ran through the door and out to the shuttle
bay. He met little resistance because every alien aboard the ship was
panicing over the chaos. The Chief hit a holo pannel to deactivate
the shield over the portal to the shuttle bay. Some elites took pot
shots at him as he dove for the dropship. He fought his way through
several aliens, and made it to the control area. He was backing up
when an explosion rocked the entire cruiser. He was thrown forwards,
and he cut his forehead on the inside of his helmate. He turned, and
flew out of the ship. He could see it rumbling behind him through the
back blast shield, and then it exploded. He was away. They had done
it. They destroyed the main cruiser headed towards the colony of New
Babylon. The Chief took of his helmate and wiped the blood from his
forehead and his helmate. The ship was cramped, but as long as it got
him out of there in time, he was happy.
"Chief, I've got some strange readings here. There is some kind
of hole in space, but it isn't like a cruiser's hole when it enters
slip space. Do you want me to analyze?"
"Yes, Cortana. It isn't a balck hole, is it?" the Chief asked.
"No, but it is growing rapidly. It is actually pulling us in!"
Cortana said, rather drastically.
"Crap! I'm turning this thing around." He grabbed the controlls
and yawed the ship hard over. He hit the engines full. But he didn't
move forwards. He just moved at a faster pace backwards.
"The ship is breaking up! Cut the engines!"
The Chief did so, and he and Cortana were sucked into the abyss.
They were gone.
>>Continued<<
Halo: A Strange Tale (Part 2)
Date: 12 January 2002, 3:45 pm
Loh'Owan
January 12,2389
The warp hole ended abruptly, and the MC was thrown forwards and once again hit his head on the controll pannel. After thinking sveral very nasty words, he got out of the pilot's chair. "Cortana, report. Where are we?"
There was a moment of silence, then she replied, "I can't rightly say. We are somewhere closer to the Earth, but not quite there."
"Are you detecting any Covenant around Earth or its colonies?" the Chief asked.
"Strangely enough, no. But I am picking up some kind of alien signal on the planet below. There are a lot of humans down there as well," Cortana replied.
"We never established a colony on this world, did we Cortana?"
"No, but apparently there are a few things that fleet-com has kept secret from us."
"So that means..." The Master Chief began.
"We were the egressors against the Covenant. They just now see us as a threat to their race. I can't belive those idiots!"
"Cortana," the Chief said, "Can you identify the alien life forms on the planet below?"
"Analyzing... No! They have a computer network down there, but it's so extensive and... It can't be possible!"
"What?!?" the Chief pressed.
"They call themselves the Pfhor, a race we eliminated about a century and a half ago." The Chief's eyes widened.
"So that means that we are now..." he began.
"Back in time," Cortana said, softly.
The Chief swallowed. "How far?" he breathed.
"By a rough estimate," Cortana told him, "this is sometime in January 2389. The beginning of the battle of Loh' Howan. Chief, we need to get back to our own time. Oh,no!" she exclaimed, "The portal we came through, it's closing up!" Indeed, the hole in space swirled, and it was gone. The Cheif swallowed. "Only one thing to do, then."
"Chief, you're not seriously thinking about going down on the planet?" Cortana protested. The Chief slowly nodded his head. "Chief, you can't do that! You may interrupt the space-time continuum! Humans may see you as hostile. You'd better stay here."
"And do what, Cortana, sit here and drain the power? We're losing power fast. We have just enough to make a rough landing on the planet."
Cortana paused for a moment. "It's the only choice then. If the power goes, your life support goes as well."
"Right," the Cheif said, "hang on!"
They began entering the atmosphere in the covenant dropship. It rumbled and shook. A small chunk of space debris hit the ship, tearing away an armor plating. Warnings blared at the Cheif as he took the ship in. "EAAAAARRRRRGGGGG!" The Cheif yelled long and hard as he struggled to get the ship's nose up. He finally did it, and some of the warnings stopped. He could feel the metal under him begin to super heat. His rear end was burning up. "Don't get up," he told himself, "or you'll be thrown into the controll pannel and never get up." Finally, they were through the atmosphere and hit the ground roughly with a horrendous CRRASSSSHHH! The Cheif bashed out the back portal when they stopped. He took a look at the covenant flier. "Well, we won't be using that any more," he said, panting. "We should move out," Cortana chided.
"Yes, dear," the Cheif said, walking away from the wreck.
They walked over dune after dune, and sand splashed upon the Cheif's Mjolnir armor. "I need to rest," the Cheif said as he squat down on the ground. Strangely, there was a hollow KONNNNGGGG when he did so. "What the..." The Cheif began to dig frantically with his hands. After about an inch of sand, he found what he was looking for.
"Cortana, this is a door, isn't it? So what are these strange markings?"
"Analyzing...this is a door, and it posts a warning in the S'pfit language. It says 'Enter all who seek knowledge, but death lies first.' Hmmm... Let me guess what you want to do," Cortana said.
"Let me guess what YOU want to do," the Cheif countered, "you want to get in a ship, find one of those portal things, and get back to our own time." "Exactly," Cortana said, bluntly.
"Well, it says that knowledge is in here. Possibly a computer mainfraim. Doesn't that interest you?"
"Yes, of course it does, but DEATH DOESN'T!"
"Cortana, I have my weapons, and I am the best trained human being in the galaxy. I don't think that whatever these Spit.."
"S'pfit," She corrected.
"Ok, S'pfit. I don't think that anything the S'pfit throw at us can hurt us. Do you?"
"Oh, have it your way, then. Hit the activation switch."
The Cheif did so, and he and Cortana were emerged in pitch darkness. Black, cold, and evil.
>>Continued<<
Halo: A Strange Tale (Part 3)
Date: 19 January 2002, 3:32 pm
Planet Lo'Howon
Twenty minutes after landing of Lo' Howon
The Chief turned on his flashlight and took stock of his situation. He was in some kind of sewer system. Green goo sloshed around his boots and grit covered the walls. The Chief moved on. He took a right, a left, and another right. "I don't understand," the Chief said, "If there's supposed to be danger here, where is it?"
"And what kind of information would be in a sewer?" Cortana asked.
"Maybe the S'phit were trying to hide something. Ancient religious artifacts, or mabe history."
"I don't know," Cortana said, "But I think we have found the danger. Motion tracker shows that something is moving beyond that door." The Chief nodded. Assault rifle at the ready, he trudged forward through the grime. He hit the activation switch, and a large, yeti like creature emerged. It had three fingers on each hand, with claws extended, ready to kill. It had a vertical mouth that was in motion, as if he wanted to eat the Chief, and his eyes were blood red. The beast growled, then swiped. Part of the Chief's shields deminished. The Chief responded with an attack of his own. Shell casings plopped into the slime as the monster fell, dead. Soon, the beast's corpse rose and floated away. The Chief moved on. "Cortana," he said, "Analyze the body structure of that beast find out what the..."
"Heck it is?" she finished. "Already done. This beast is one of the ancient Jjaro, the species involved in the pyramids in Brazil in 1993. A lone operative set of the device to destroy the W'wac'ner, a planet destroying beast resting inside the pyramid. But my scans don't detect the presence of any W'wac'ner. It's possible that the S'phit put these Jjaro in here to protect their information."
"Understood. Let's move on." The Chief found a flight of stairs leading up to a small, circular room that held a computer terminal.
"Log in," Cortana instructed. The Chief hit the activation switch. It read:
S'phit Databases
Message Terminal A
Recorded Year: 189 (Year of Pestilance)
Danger lies before you, and safety back. But with exiting there goes the knowledge of the S'phit Kr. These terminals contain knowledge of other races and of the days of the S'phit Kr.
The Pfhor.
The Pfhor are an insect like race, enslaving other races to do their work. They are often war-like, and have now invaded Lo'Howon. They speak of invading other colonies containing humans (more on them later.) They seem unstoppable, but if problems arise in their ranks, they are quick to turn on their own kind to survive. This is their main weakness in battle. Their are several types of warriors, the Fighters, who are scrawny and use shock staffs to acieve their means, troopers, which carry a ballistic type of weapon, the hunters, whose hard armor is diffucult to peirce, the juggernauts, who hover and fire powerful ballistic projectiles at anyone in their way, and the cyborgs, who are programmed to do the Pfhor's bidding.
Other Races to be included in documentation:
Humans
Jjaro
Covenant.
"What?" Cortana screamed, "There were other races that knew of the Covenant? I didn't think that..."
"Cortana, will you shut it? I'm trying to read!" The Chief grumbled. Cortana did not say a word. "Thanks."
The days of the S'phit Kr
Documented by Korat' Nek
Year: 180
Peace has always, until now, graced the inhabitants of Lo'Howon. Now we are at war with the race known as the Pfhor. They are hard fighters, and many of our kind are dying. But the S'phit Kr will never surrender. We would rather die. The Pfhor are doing the abominable to our kind. They have lost many as well, and they desire to enslave our kind to their cause. They are mind controlling our men with their overlords. The guardians (not mentioned in the documentation) are brutal body guards to the overlords. Their weapons are powerful, and painful. Not a S'phit yet has encountered one and lived. We must overthrow them. The S'phit Kr must survive. We feel pity upon these humans that the Pfhor are so connivingly scheming against. They are taking their time. They want no mistakes. They need a window of opportunity to arise. We must not let them have it. I am sorry to say that now only the S'phit Kr remain free. We are hiding in our sewers, biding our time. We have put Jjaro in to protect our history. There are few S'phit who still remember our old sewer hid out after being mind controlled, but they do exist. We must kill them immediately. Zo'jalk has called a meeting to discuss wheter we should kill our bretheren to save humanity, or be enslaved to the Pfhor. I shall choose to save humanity. There are about 150 of us left, and we will die honorably. I must leave. If Kring'loki found out I was transmitting my personal thoughts into a computer he would have my head put on the table of the gods and sacrificed to Bren. More will be transmitted in the North terminal. >End Transmission<
"Well, that was... interesting." The Chief said.
"Yes, indeed. If there are any S'phit Kr left," Cortana said, excitedly, "They may help us in our fight against the Covenant. We should seek them out when we get back."
"If we get back, you mean," the Chief said, coldly. There was a moment of silence.
"Well, let's get going," Cortana chided, "The next one will probably be heavily guarded. It's the North terminal."
"Gotcha."
The Chief headed out the door. He went back the way he came, and headed through the north passage this time. He opened the door, and was met by a strange, flying alien. Three bullets hit the target, and it fell into the soup with a splash. The Chief pressed on. He found a door and opened it. He went inside and it sealed shut behind him. Twelve Jjaro guards rushed out to face him. He put them all down, and blood mixed with the sewage. Suddenly, the slime began to rise.
"Chief! This room is flooding! Look for a way out!"
The Chief searched frantically. There was no other door. He was trapped.
Halo: A Strange Tale (Part 4)
Date: 25 January 2002, 11:39 pm
Planet Lo' Howon
S'pht Kr archives cavern
Time: Unknown
Water rushed up past his thighs as the Master Chief frantically searched for a way out. The door would not budge. He hit it several times with the butt of his rifle, but to no avail. It was up to his armpits when he looked up. In the center of the ceiling was a small grate. "That's it!" he exclaimed as the water rushed up past his head.
"Chief," Cortana said, "You have a five minute oxygen reserves. The sheild should keep the water off you."
"It should take only several seconds to get through that grate," the chief replied, comfortingly. He threw a grenade through the bars. It bounced slightly, then came to rest perilously on one of the bars. Then the timer ran out and it exploded, shattering the weak grate. The Chief swam upwards towards the light ahead. He pulled himself up and out of the sewer, and flicked on his flashlight. He was in a relatively well lit hallway. He turned off his light and looked down at the compass on the assault rifle's display screen. It showed north to the right. He progressed down the hall, took a right, a left, another right, and one more left. He found himself lost once or twice, untill Cortana said, "We need to go left at this intersection. It will lead to a stairway up to the next terminal."
The Chief turned left then said, "How would you know?"
"I, uh, have had the map schematics all the time. I wanted to see if you could find it yourself," Cortana replied, sheepishly.
The Chief swore mentally, and went the way she told him. On the way, he met some kind of flying parasite. Bullets ejected from the Master Chief's magazine, and the parasite crashed to the floor in a bloody heap.
"Cortana, analyze this please," the Chief said, nonchalauntly.
"Yes, dear," she replied, "This is some kind of parasite, obviously, but it has not been termed. It's body structure is that of a..."
"That's enough. I just wanted to know what it was. Let's just call it a wasp for now," the Chief said as he stepped over the dead alien.
Mist covered the passage like a blanket in front of him. Once more he turned on his light. A pit lay under him, containing the bodies of P'fhor and Jarro. The bodies were all impaled upon giant stalagmites that wer filed to a razor point. The Chief exhaled, took five steps back, plunged forwards and jumped. He missed the cliff edge and quickly grasped it with his left hand. He heaved himself up and over, and crept forwards. Ahead of him was a door. He hit the activation switch, and it opened up. Inside was a single terminal. The Chief walked forwards and pressed the activation switch. Text ran over his view. He read:
Year 189
Scientific Entry of the S'pht Kr
Our numbers have been severely diminished. There are 97 warriors left. But we will not give into the P'fhor. There was a great battle on the Plains of Krench' Len. Many of our warriors were killed. But more of the P'fhor were destroyed. It doens't seem like a victory, however, because the P'fhor are never scathed when the fight. They continue to send more troops constantly. We are in hiding, using hit and run tactics to acheive our means. It is dishonorable, but it keeps us alive. We are now to catalouge the human race.
Humans are roughly like the P'fhor fighters in their stature, but they seem to be stronger, as a general rule. Our probe telementary shows that technologically wise, they are very primative. They still fight with weapons made of metals, and have no more powerful projectiles other than shafts of wood with metal on the ends, and large rocks. Recently, a great battle between an Empire and a rebeling country took place. It was called the Battle of the Plain of Marathon. It was a slaughter. The Empire was victorious. Some of our fellow scientists believe that there is no hope for the human race. I beg to differ. If we are ever enslaved, the humans may find Lo' Howon, and free us. That day would be far into the future, however. There technological evolution is rather slow. Thus concludes this entry. The Jarro will be categorized in the east terminal.
>End Transmission<
The Chief finished reading. He stood in the dimly lit room for some time before turning around. When he did, a glob of acid hit him square in the chest. A yeti had snuck up on him. The Chief turned the alien into ground beef with his assault rifle. Suddenly, Jarro were pouring out of the room from ever side. Lead found its way into targets, wheter the Chief was aiming or not. There were thousands of them. Acid balls flew through the air, tooth and claw found prey in the Chief, and he could do nothing. His rifle was out of ammunition. Suddenly, a glob of acid found its mark in the right place, and the Chief fell to the ground. "N-nn-no!" the chief said as everything went black.
Halo: A Strange Tale (Part 5)
Date: 26 January 2002, 4:43 pm
Planet Lo' Howon
Date unknown
S'pht Kr Information Library
"Chief? Chief can you hear me?"
The words penetrated the cloudy mist enshrouding the MC's mind. He slowly opened one eye.
"Chief? Are you ok? You were out for nearly an hour."
"I'm all right, Cortana," the Chief replied slowly, "Where are we?"
"We're in the sewer system again. The Fl'Ikta brought you back."
"The what? I thought those guards were Jarro!"
"Well, uh, they're not. I miss analyzed. I mistook the body structure."
The Chief snorted. "Ok," he said, "Do you know our position?"
"Acessing..." Cortana said, "We're half a kilometer away from the eastern terminal. You need to take the right turn."
Once again, the Chief said, "Yes, dear."
They proceeded down the filthy hallways, sewage sloshing around the Chief's boots as he went. He met some heavy resistance. Wasps and Yeti were all around the passage, waiting to ambush him. The Chief was forced to resort to his pistol since the rifle was out of ammo. Internal organs spilled from the aliens and floated away in chunks. Finally, the Chief emerged into a very bright room. He walked forwards, turning off the flashlight as he did so. A terminal sat in the front of the room. The Chief logged on. It read:
S'pht Scientific Entry terminal
Year 189 (The Year of Pestilence)
The P'fhor have all but destroyed our numbers. I can't count the number of great friends I have lost. The Temples have been decimated, and our priests slaughtered. We are all but their slaves now. Many other S'pht have turned, and have killed many of our bretheren. They shall pay for what they have done.
The Jarro
The Jarro are a race of aliens who live to destroy. Jarro have built a temple on the planet Earth, and someday plan to take the planet. Why must all yearn to kill the humans?
There are several beasts that we have encountered. The headless, the zombies, and the banshees. They are all very leathal, and travel in packs. Their homeworld is, at this present time, unknown.
>End Transmission<
The Chief logged out. "So," he breathed, "The S'pht did nothing about the Jarro invaders, even though they knew of their existance."
"Do you blame them?" Cortana asked, " They were being slaughtered by the P'Fhor! They had their own concerns to deal with."
"Yes," the Chief said. He paused, then said, "So, the next terminal will be in the west, will it?"
"That's affirmative. It is heavily guarded by Fl'Ikta, and there are actually two terminals there. I am reading a human AI construct in one of them. It may be able to tell us what's going on."
The Chief slowly turned, and walked out of the room. A Yeti was standing in his way. It swiped at him, but the Spartan was too fast. He hit the beast between the eyes with his pistol, and it slumped to the ground, dead. The body hit the ground with a splash, showering the area with slime. The Chief wiped off his visor, and saw a scrawny blue alien with some kind of staff swing at him. The Chief took the shock with his shield. It didn't damage it too much. He opened up with his pistol, and the monster fell. Two green ones and a purple one followed suit to attack him. One by one they fell dead.
"These must be some of the P'Fhor fighters," Cortana said, "They fit the description the first computer terminal recorded."
The Chief picked up the staff, the end of which glowed like a blue flame. "No matter what they are, if they stand in the way of me or my objective, they will die," the Chief growled as he ran down the corridors leading to the western terminal. He would get the information about the Covenant or die trying. "And," he thought to himself, "There are many an alien life form that will try to make me do the latter." He found the main passage leading west and hit the activation switch. "Here goes," he murmered as he stepped inside.
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