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Halo the Book by SPARTAN 053
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Halo the Book: Part's 1 and 2
Date: 3 January 2004, 8:56 PM
Halo
By AKA Kam
Based on the game by Bungie®
QUOTES
"Salvation"
Deep in the heart of autumn
Were silent spaces for fifty
Of the ones that need no name.
From this celestial bough
All but one did fall into
The pitiless fires of reach.
A soldier's ignominy
To have dreamt while brothers bled.
But oh, for the rest of
Us his shame was our salvation...
- Unknown Author
"To Save"
The real heroes are not the
Ones who fight to kill,
But the ones who fight to save.
"The Beast"
Many may claim to be brave,
But only the truly brave dare
To enter the belly of the beast.
"The Strong"
The strongest of us are not
The ones who fight alone,
It's the ones who fight together
"Victory"
Man is never truly defeated,
Just delayed in his inevitable
Victory.
- Jeff Graham
INTRODUCTION
The year is 2552. Planet Earth still exists, but overpopulation has forced many of her former residents to colonize other worlds. Faster-than-light travel is now a reality, and Earth's unified government, through the United Nations Space Command, has put its full weight behind the colonization effort; millions of humans now live on habitable planets in other solar systems. A keystone of humanity's colonization efforts is the planet Reach, an interstellar naval yard that builds colony ships for civilians and warships for the UNSC's armed forces. Conveniently close to Earth, Reach is also a hub of scientific and military activity.
Thirty-two years ago, contact with the outer colony Harvest was lost. A battlegroup sent to investigate was almost completely destroyed; only one badly damaged ship returned to Reach. Its crew told of a seemingly unstoppable alien warship that had effortlessly annihilated their forces.
This was humankind's first encounter with a group of aliens they eventually came to know as the Covenant, a collective of alien races united in their fanatical religious devotion. Covenant religious elders declared humanity an affront to the gods and the Covenant warrior caste waged a holy war upon humanity with gruesome diligence.
After a series of crushing defeats and obliterated colonies, UNSC Admiral Preston Cole established the Cole Protocol: no vessel may inadvertently lead the Covenant to Earth. When forced to withdraw ships must avoid Earth-bound vectors—even if that means jumping without proper navigational calculations. Vessels in danger of capture must self-destruct.
On Reach, a secret military project to create cyborg super-soldiers takes on newfound importance. The soldiers of the SPARTAN-II project rack up an impressive record against the Covenant in test deployments, but there are too few of them to turn the tide of the war Existing SPARTAN-II soldiers are recalled to Reach for further augmentation. The plan: board a Covenant vessel with the improved SPARTAN-IIs and learn the location of the Covenant home world. Two days before the mission begins, Covenant forces strike Reach and annihilate the colony. The Covenant are now on Earth's doorstep. One ship, the Pillar of Autumn, escapes with the last SPARTAN-II and makes a blind jump into deep space, hoping to lead the Covenant away from Earth.
The Pillar of Autumn is a Halcyon-class warship that has seen decades of service. An aging but sturdy vessel, and one of the smallest cruisers in the human fleet, the military High Command chose it specifically as an inconspicuous launch pad for a covert offensive against the Covenant.
Genetically engineered cyborg soldiers in state-of-the-art battle suits were supposed to board a Covenant vessel and locate the Covenant home world. A surprise Covenant attack on the human military base on the planet Reach annihilated all but one of the SPARTAN-II soldiers. The remaining SPARTAN-II, known only by his rank of Master Chief, and his SPARTAN number John-117, was stored in a cryosleep chamber upon the Pillar of Autumn shortly before the ship made a blind jump across the galaxy.
-From the Halo Manual
PROLOGUE
For countless time it stood there, silent, secret, waiting, thousands of light-years form Earth. Stuck in the tug of the gas giant Threshold and its moon Basis, on the edge of human colonized space. It was a gigantic ring, ten thousand kilometers across, and twenty-two and three tenths thick. Its atmosphere was composed of nitrogen and oxygen. It was covered on its outside circumference by strange, circular geometric patterns, ridges in an otherwise smooth dull gray surface. It had climate-based weather. To look upon it was breathtaking.
A green dot appeared near Threshold. Out of it came a whale-like shape. It was dark in the vacuum. Then, more followed. Suddenly, they were bristling with light. Weapons, machines, and superstructures began to glow purple, blue, and red. It was an armada of the mysterious race known as the Covenant.
Part 1
THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN
SECTION 1
REVEILLE
0127 Hours (Ship's Time), September 19, 2552 (Military Calendar) / UNSC Cruiser Pillar of Autumn, approaching Threshold, unknown system.
Captain Jacob Keyes stood on the bridge of the Pillar of Autumn. He looked at the flight of SFC709 Longswords that passed in front of the Autumn. He wasn't happy. He
had barely escaped the Battle of Reach, and was afraid that his luck had run out.
Twenty-six years into his military career, Captain Keyes commands respect as a keen strategist and inspirational leader of his men. He became a minor hero early in his career, when he led a small group of security troops against a Covenant ambush of the colony ship Meriwether Lewis and held them off long enough for the ship to escape. His many decorations and years of combat experience against the Covenant made him a natural choice to command the Pillar of Autumn and its secret cargo.
"Cortana," he asked the AI. "All I need to know is did we lose them?"
"I think we both know the answer to that." She replied calmly.
Cortana is the highly advanced AI at the heart of the Pillar of Autumn. Her design allows her to be uploaded into an appropriately configured battle suit for safekeeping. She is capable of hacking into alien computer systems, and has used this skill to intercept Covenant communications during combat. She interprets this data to provide her caretakers with directional waypoints and the best available information about troop movement and strategy.
Keyes lowered his head. "I don't get it. We made a blind jump. How did they-?"
"Get here first?" Cortana finished for him. "Covenant ships have
always been faster, and as for tracking us all the way from Reach, in slipstream space my maneuvering options were limited."
"We were running dark, yes?" asked Keyes as he walked up to Ensign Lovell and peered over the officer's shoulder.
"Until we decelerated. No one could have missed the hole we tore in the slipstream." Cortana responded. "They were waiting for us on the far side of the planet."
"So, where do we stand?" Keyes asked as he walked to his command post.
"Our fighters are mopping up the last of their recon picket now, nothing serious. But, I've isolated approach signatures from multiple CCS-class battle groups. Make it three capital ships per group. And in about ninety seconds they'll be all over us."
Keyes closed his eyes, tossed his antique pipe up and down, and lowered his head.
"Well, that's it then." He said as he raised his head, opened his eyes, and turned around to face the bridge crew. "Bring the ship back up to Combat Alert Alpha. I want everyone at their station."
"Everyone sir?"
"Everyone." Keyes said slowly. "And, Cortana..."
"Hmm?" Cortana asked as her hologram appeared in a holotube.
"Let's give our old friend a warm welcome." Keyes said, facing her.
"I've already begun."
Down bellow, in the Autumn's main hanger, Marines were arming and boarding D77-TC Pelican dropships. M12 LRV Warthogs were driving out of their hangers and were attached to Pelicans. Ten of the thirty-five Pelicans attached M808B Scorpion Main Battle Tanks onto their tails. Inside the Warthog bay, now mostly empty; a group of marines that would be left behind to repel Covenant boarders stood in small groups around the weapons lockers.
When Sergeant Tim Parker, known as "Sarge" among the men, walked in, the marines double-timed their already hurried weapons gathering, and faced the sergeant. Just then, the loudspeaker blared.
"All personnel, proceed to your action stations, we are under attack by the Covenant. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill."
"You heard the lady, move like you got a purpose." Sarge barked.
The marines formed two lines leading to the entrance of the Warthog bay. They stood at attention.
"Men," boomed Sarge as he walked through the aisle of soldiers. "Once again, it is our job to finish what the flyboys started. We are leaving this ship platoon, and engaging the Covenant on solid ground. When we meet the enemy, we will rip their skulls from their spine, and toss 'em away, laughin'!" Having reached the end of the line, he paused, then turned around "Am I right, Marines?"
"Sir yes sir!" The troops replied in unison.
"Damn right I am boys. Now move it out, double time."
"Alert, alert." The PA blared. "We are re-engaging the enemy, multiple dropships inbound. Internal contacts imminent, all combat personnel, stand by to repel borders."
The last dropships had left. The main hanger was empty other then the sounds of feet running and a single silent, dormant Longsword bomber.
Above, somewhere amidships, in the Cryo-chamber B observation theater, Tech Officer Third Class Sam Marcus looked at his readout monitor. A new message was glowing on it.
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