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Hopestar chapter 1
Date: 6 January 2005, 7:51 PM

Author's note: I may not submit sequels to this very often as I am busy with my other stories.

Hopestar chapter 1, Operation Exodus:

Captain Wellington studied the console screen several times before believing it was true. Just to be sure he read it again.

As of now all MAC stations have been destroyed and our ships are in full retreat. The Covenant have withdrawn their ground forces and are preparing to glass the planet. With this only two systems remain under our control and they will soon fall. Operation Hopestar is to commence.

The Captain shook his head and rubbed his eyes. It's happened. He thought. He walked to his desk and poured himself a generous half cup of wine. In seconds he had gulped the entire glass and was still unready. He straightened his uniform and walked to the bridge. When he arrived he was welcomed by the bridge crew with a round of salutes. He sat in his chair and sighed deeply. "Is something wrong sir?" Ensign Herby asked. "You'll know in a second." The Captain replied as he activated the ship wide intercom. "Attention all crew and civilians, this is your Captain speaking." As he spoke the bridge crew turned from their menial tasks and gave him their full attention. "As of oh six hundred this morning..." He gulped and prepared for the crew's reaction. "Earth has fallen." He heard the expected gasps and half iterations of 'OH MY GOD!' resound through the bridge. He stared blankly at the large situation screen at the end of the bridge.

"In twelve hours we will embark on our journey as the last chance to save mankind, by then all personnel are to be at ready." He paused and searched for something to say but could think of nothing. He deactivated the com link and leaned back in his chair. 'Sir?" Ensign Herby asked to get his attention. "Is this a drill? Is it just practice?" The Ensign asked hopefully. The Captain sighed. "I hope so."

The ship Captain Wellington is in command of is the UNSC Hopestar, a battle cruiser retrofitted to be a colony ship. It was jammed with two thousand civilians as well as its regular crew. Its one and only mission was to escort the six colony ships as a last chance for humanity, a relocation for the entire race. By now the Covenant had destroyed every system of the Humans save two, the Tara system which is currently under attack, and the Fel system which the Hopestar was currently stationed at.

Marine barracks on the Hopestar:

Private Kells sat up in his bunk as he listened to the conversation between the two marines in the bunk next to him. "So the Master Chief died?" One of them asked the other. "Apparently." The other responded. "I heard after he killed the Prophet that the other Covenant ship shot the hell out of that big ass Forerunner thing he was on." Another marine cut in. "No, here's how it happened, the Chief got to the Prophet and held him at gunpoint, okay? So he was like "Call the ships off." and of course the Prophet says no and the Chief caps him, then all the split chins go crazy and shoot him, but he kills them and triggers the self destruct on the ship and then he gets out before it blows." One of the other marines snorted. "Yeah right, how could he trigger the self destruct? He can't read Covenant shit."

"Yeah he can, he's got that wicked A.I., what's er name, uh, Catena." The other marine shook his head. "No you idiot its Cortana. An that's not how it happened." Kells watched as the Sergeant appeared in the doorway. "I SAID LIGHTS OUT! NOW SHUT IT OR I'll SHOOT IT!" He yelled. By now every marine had gotten used to his empty threats. The Sergeant walked away and the marines laid in their bunks. Kells rolled over and whispered to the marine in the bunk bellow him. "Hey, Jake, do you think the Chief could be alive?" The marine rolled over. "Maybe, but all I care about is getting away from these Covenant."

Civilian quarters 3 C, Hopestar:

The room was filled with activity as the people shoved bags into bulkheads and spread sleeping bags on the floor. Several families huddled together and talked about Earth being lost as Hillers cleaned his weapon. A m6c magnum which a friend who was in the marines had given him. His friend was station on Athens station, orbiting Earth. Was orbiting Earth. He thought. He watched as the hundred other civilians in his section bustled about preparing for their journey.

Hillers watched curiously as an MP walked into the room and glanced about. He covered his pistol in a blanket at sat innocently. The MP walked by him and collected contraband from other civs. A rifle and two bags of some kind of narcotic. For some reason the Captain wasn't allowing civilians to have weapons on his ship. At least two marines were always station in each civilian block for defense.

One of the marines glanced at a paper in his hand and walked over to Hillers. "Are you R. Hillers?" He asked without looking up from the paper. "Yeah." The marine dropped the paper at Hillers' feet. "Message for you." The marine said as he turned and walked away. Hillers picked up the paper and read.

Hey Rich, if you're reading this I'm dead. So I guess this is a message from the beyond. Anyway I want you to know that I expect you to keep my family safe.

See you when you die, Katie.

Hillers managed a weak smile as he read Katie's small joke about the message from beyond. By now Katie's family was plasma burned. Hillers leaned back on his sleeping bag. Guess that means I failed. He thought as he folded the paper and put it in his pack.

He reached down and recovered his pistol which he loaded and quickly hid in his sleeping bag. He glanced around him and saw the hundred or so other people as they tried to cope with the fact they were to be all of human kind. Hillers stretched out and closed his eyes. For us the war is over. He thought as he fell asleep. Soon to be proven wrong.

AN: Well that's it for now. I'll submit the next in a week or two.

Hopestar Chapter 2
Date: 9 January 2005, 10:40 PM

The Hopestar chapter two, Escaping while trapped:

The Hopestar slowly pulled away from the planet as it accelerated and began its journey away from any known Covenant. Following it were six large colony ships hovering majestically in the light of the red sun. The Captain watched the view screen as the Hopestar began to pull away from the other ships. Surrounding Fel five, the only planet in the Fel system which could support human life, were three cruisers, a frigate and five orbital super MACs.

The Captain knew these would never hold when the Covenant came, he would never understand why the ONI wouldn't let the fleet come with him. All the civilians on Fel five would easily fit on the three cruisers. But the ONI, as it had assumed the duties of FLEET COM, wanted to hold on to Fel as long as it could. The Captain shifted in his chair uneasily at the thought of ONI being the only form of government, he had always distrusted them ever since the loss of his first ship, the cruiser... The Captains musing was cut off by his console beeping wildly. He glanced at it and noticed it was a communication from FLEET COM, priority alpha. He pressed a few buttons and ONI officer Stanfield appeared on the view screen. "I hate to rush you Captain, but you'd better hit a jump NOW!" Stanfield yelled as computer terminals behind him beeped frantically. "What's happening?" The Captain asked.

"A Covenant fleet has been seen approaching Fel five; they will be at us in ten minutes." Stanfield said as he typed on a command console. "How many ships?" The Captain asked. "You don't want to know, just leave, now, before they can track you." The screen turned black as the Captain and the bridge crew quickly went about their tasks. "ALL CREW ON ALL SHIPS, THIS IS TH CAPTAIN, PREPARE FOR IMMEDIATE JUMP, SAME COORDINATES!" He yelled into the mic for the entire colony fleet. He waited as the crew typed frantically. Now only luck could keep them alive.

ONI headquarters on Fel five:

Stanfield watched his monitor as the Hopestar fleet disappeared into a slip space void and the monitor quickly changed to a looming Covenant fleet. The ships looked like large purple and blue whales that slowly approached through the void of space. He turned from the monitor and watched as other ONI officers bustled about giving orders and typing commands. What's the point? He thought. We don't stand a chance.

He turned back to his monitor and watched as the some two hundred Covenant ships approached. All five orbital MACs fired and their projectiles collided with two of the lead ship which crumpled and folded in on themselves as they burned. The rest of the forward Covenant ships fired large balls of plasma at the nearest human cruiser, the George. It was hit along its side and explosions pocked along it as it grew lifeless.

The other cruisers fired their MACs and followed with a volley of missiles. By now the orbital MACs had charged and fired in a staggered formation at the leading ships. The ship board MACs hit first and disabled one ship before the archer missiles converged and destroyed a Covenant frigate. Something is wrong. He thought to himself. The ships rush lifelessly, and they aren't using Covenant battle tactics. He tapped some keys and his camera zoomed in on one of the lead ships, which hadn't been hit yet.

He saw a large hole in its side and zoomed in on it. It looked like plasma damage. He leaned close to his monitor as he saw something he couldn't believe he saw. The hole was patched, with what looked like flesh and organs. He tapped the magnification key one last time and his fears were confirmed. The hole in the Covenant ship was walled off by flood biomaterial. He gasped. I thought they were contained on the Halos! He thought frantically as he tapped the command to get an alpha priority channel to all units. His monitor flicked to show the words 'All channels open'. He gathered his courage and spoke with authority. "The Covenant ships are infested by the flood; all ground units are to prepare to detonate novas when the flood touch down on the planet, all Captains are to order self destruct when their ships or stations are boarded." He flicked off the channel and leaned back in his chair as he heaved a heavy sigh. For him the war would be over in a bright flash when the flood landed on the planet.

On the Hopestar in unexplored region of space:

The Captain struggled out of his cryo tube and shrugged into his clothes. He glanced around and saw hundreds of others do the same. After their short escape jump the Hopestar and its fleet had entered a long jump into an unexplored and hopefully uninfected by Covenant region of space. He walked to the bridge as the rest of his crew manned their stations. "How long has it been?" He asked. "Uh, sir?" One of the crewman responded. "Yes crewman." The crewman shrugged. "A little longer than we thought, it's been anywhere from five to twelve years!" The Captain straightened in his chair with all the nausea from the cryo thawing suddenly subsiding. "WHAT!?!"

"At least five years sir, I'm checking now." The crewman said as he checked several statistics. His console buzzed to life and began emitting a high pitched squeal. "Sir, three Covenant cruisers off our port bow." The crewman yelled. "Show me." The situation screen blinked and flickered and suddenly showed three long purple ovals hovering in the distance, seemingly lifeless as they floated through space. "They must have followed us sir." The crewman said as he watched the screen intently. The Captain stood and walked over to the screen. "Magnify on the nearest ship." The cruisers in the view screen leapt forward until one took up the entire area. "It looks heavily damaged..." He remarked as he observed several holes along its side. "...Any chance they're dead in the water?" He asked the crew. "I'm not sure sir, sensors are inconclusive." The Captain turned and walked to one of the consoles an Ensign was manning and leaned over his shoulder.

"Tell the other ships to get behind the Hopestar, and get a squad of Marines on that ship."






Corporal Trudy ran through the dark halls aimlessly, turning and turning as the corridors seemed endless. The lights flickered in a useless attempt to regain life as they illuminated the room for a split second before dying again. Trudy continued to run as he heard hundreds of footsteps behind him. Shambling footsteps, uneven footsteps, nearing footsteps. He turned another corner and found himself facing a locked door.

A glow of red light ran its edges as it signaled its refusal to open. A refusal to safety. Trudy drew his pistol as he turned and put his back to the door as the footsteps drew closer. His breathing was erratic and his heartbeat resounded in his ears like gunfire. He consciously slowed his breathing as he huddled in a corner, hoping the things would pass by without noticing him.

He readied his pistol as the footsteps grew so close he felt as if he could touch the sound. His eyes searched the corridor for any means of escape but found none. The lights flicked on again and the hallway was illuminated showing what was a Marine Trudy knew standing five feet from him. The Marine's head hung loosely from its neck as if the creature that had taken his body thought the head were some kind of wart. His left arm was formed into some kind of flesh whip and his right had its fingers elongated with extra tissue, its legs shot off at strange angles making it unbelievable the thing could walk. The creature's chest was ripped open to show organs sitting uselessly as strange growths overtook them.

"DIE!" Trudy yelled as he pulled the trigger on his pistol. Hot lead jumped from the gun and leapt into the creature, which growled and jumped forward while bringing its whip-like arm back and snapping it forward. The whip collided with Trudy's leg and cut to the bone. He cursed and continued to fire as the creature struck his leg again and again. Trudy jumped sideways and fired the last round in his pistol at the creatures head. It exploded into chunks as the creature continued after him without any thought as to its head being blown off. Trudy ejected the clip as he ran full speed down the hall. Pain shot through his leg but he continued to run, propelled by the fear of the creature.

He turned a corner and found himself falling through air. He screamed as he collided with some sort of thick clumpy warm liquid. Thinking it was coolant Trudy turned to any light he could find, which was above him where he fell from. He looked around him. He was standing waist deep in this liquid in a room which the darkness made seem endless. But it seemed he had lost the creature and that was good enough for now. He waded to a rising and sat on it. He breathed in deeply as he relaxed and was overtaken by the most horrendous smell he had ever smelled before. It was worse than rotting corpses after a battle and worse than the fleshy unearthly smell of the creatures. He reached into a vest pocket and produced a lighter which he flicked and ignited.

The room sprung into view, the room barely a foot above his head and the room ten feet in every direction with a hole in the ceiling where he had fallen through. He looked at the liquid which seemed to be some sort of black sludge. Breathing in the smell he realized what it was. A cesspool. He thought. I fell into a fucking alien shit pool. He cursed in his head. It was still better than being out there with those things. He decided to breathe through his mouth and realized it was a mistake. The smell was so bad he could taste it. He felt along his leg and saw it was cut to the bone in the front and the bone itself was fractured. He reloaded his pistol and stared at the ceiling. How the hell did this happen? He thought to himself as he winced from the pain in his leg.

Hopestar Chapter 3 Insanity
Date: 11 January 2005, 5:40 AM

Hopestar Chapter three, Insanity:

In A situation like this the question arises how long can a Human hold to sanity under these conditions. Sitting on an alien ship in a cesspool with a broken leg while hundreds of dead but alive flesh eating creatures wander the area searching for you. Physicians and psychiatrists alike will tell you how long someone can last depends on any number of things from childhood pets to what you had for breakfast, but it isn't long.

Corporal Trudy sat in the Covenant cesspool as he listened to the footsteps of the things in the corridor above him. They growled and walked around the hole he had fallen through to get into the cesspool but seemed uninterested in entering.

He checked all his pockets but found no more ammo; he had only the clip in his pistol. Save the last round for yourself. He thought as he began to clean his leg wound. He sat still as he heard one of the creatures growl something loudly to the others. He heard a shambling sound as they began to walk. Then he heard something that made a large shiver run down his spine. "Human." One of the creatures said in a low, drawling voice. "You will not outlast us; you are the sustenance, the morsel of quenching." It continued to talk as Trudy made sure his helmet recorder was on. "All shall be consumed by the creatures you once fought. All matter in the universe converged under a single banner."

Trudy walked to the hole against his instinct and peered up several feet into the face of the creature which was once a Covenant Elite. Its mouth moved out of sync with the words as if the mouth was not what was speaking. "Our embrace shall come." It said before turning from the hole and walking away. He waded through the alien feces back to the slightly raised platform and sat down in disbelief of what had happened. He had only heard rumors of a flood mastermind which the Master Chief was said to have encountered. A single brain for all the flood.

He thought for a second. Sub-dimensional energy transmissions, that's how they communicate! His fear suddenly subsided as it was replaced by pure curiosity and excitement. Telepathic communication! Imagine what the scientists could discover! He heard more footsteps and his excitement quickly faded into horror again. They were coming.

________________________________________________________


Private Kells awoke to find himself in a heap of bodies. Blood soaked his shirt and a disembodied arm laid on his face. "JESUS!" He yelled as he shoved the arm off of his and jumped from the pile of bodies. Most of the bodies Covenant but quite a few were his fellow Marines. He heard a growl and turned to find himself face to face with a head which hung uselessly from the neck of an animate body. "Private?" He asked stupidly as he was disoriented and lightheaded. The thing roared and leapt at him, pinning him to the ground as it raised its whip-like arm. Kells' instinct took over as he drew his SMG and put it to the things chest as he pulled the trigger. The weight of the bullets collapsed the thing's chest and obliterated the balloon like thing inside. It growled and fell limp.

Kells shoved the thing off him and looked around. Bodies littered everywhere and stacked into piles which balloon like things with tendrils groped about and picked at. Strange pale yellow growths of what looked like flesh adhered to the walls. Kells reloaded his SMG and started to remember what had happened.

"Kells, move it up." Sergeant Hills yelled. Kells ran forward to the large door and opened it. Inside dozens of Elites and Grunts littered the ground, their armor riddled with plasma burns and their flesh ripped open. Blood coated the walls and floors and organs were strewn around the bodies. Muscles and tendons hung out in plain sight and the faces of the dead had a look of terror and pain frozen on them. Kells walked to the bodies of one of the Elites in red armor. He kneeled next to it and looked into its black eyes. They stared back lifelessly like the eyes of a demented doll. Kells was disturbed by this and turned away to face the other Marines.

"What did this?" Kells asked the Sergeant. The Sergeant kicked one of the bodies and turned to the other Marines. He let the stub of a cigarette drop from his mouth onto the floor. Kells watched as it hit the ground and fell into pieces of paper and leaves. Kells looked back to the Sergeant who had a very serious look on his face. "Run." The Sergeant said softly, as if he were telling a secret to a friend. The Marines stood, dumbfounded by what the Sergeant had said. "I said run idiots!" The Sergeant yelled as he drew his battle rifle. The Marines turned to leave when they heard what sounded like thousands of little feet hurrying across metal. "Run!" The Sergeant yelled one last time.

The Marines needed no further encouragement as they ran for the fighter bay the pelican was in. Kells began to run as he heard the sound of metal breaking and falling. He turned and saw the Sergeant pushed down by a wall of walking dead. Kells raised his SMG and fired before a large rotting hand smacked him across the face and he sank into darkness.


Kells recovered from his thinking and turned to the balloon creatures which appeared to be feasting merrily on his fallen comrades. He raised his SMG and spewed hot lead into the little bastards before turning and running into the dark corridors in search of the fighter bay where the pelican, and safety, was.

Kells ran and quickly found himself lost in the dark corridors. He turned another corner and found he was facing a locked door. He walked away from it and continued running when he found his feet had nothing to push off of. He realized he was falling at the exact second he collided with thick clumpy liquid.

_______________________________________________________

The Captain watched the screen as he wondered what was happening to his crew on the nearest Covenant ship. Soon the Civilians would get restless and the Captain would be pressured to do something. My mission is to find safety; maybe I should withdraw my men and get the hell out of here. He thought as he absently ran his fingers along his chair.

He turned to his command console and read the screen. Two hours since last transmission from the team, something was happening. He leaned back in his chair. Something is very wrong. He thought as he watched the com link, hoping the team would report.


________________________________________________________


The Prophet of Fury watched the holographic screen which portrayed the battle currently happening around the planet. Flood controlled ships outnumbered his own by four to one. He watched helplessly as the parasite's ships continued to obliterate his. He turned from the screen and spoke to the other Prophets. "It is time; we will fight the battle as the Forerunners once did."

Hopestar : Cp 4, Taking Control
Date: 28 January 2005, 7:58 PM

When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kind of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt.
-Robert M. Pirsig

       The Prophet of Fury sat indignantly on the formfitting gel cushion, watching the viewscreen show the planet he had earlier been defending sink into the distance amongst the other stars. He glanced around the room at the elegant blankets and plants that decorated the room. How trivial. He thought to himself as he examined a fine red blanket that adorned the floor.

       Honor, who sat across the room from Fury, shook his head slowly. "How could this happen? Another of our worlds." His gaze drifted to the floor.

       "You know very well how this happened, you refused to destroy their hive!" Hindering yelled.

       "Destroy High Charity? Such an act would be above heresy! And there were still plenty of our citizens alive!" Honor yelled back at him, moving his head so violently that his headdress nearly falling off.

       "The survivors were killing each other! There was nothing more we could do!" Hindering began to scream, his pale grey skin turning an angry yellow.

       "You would admit defeat at the hands of the parasite? We should never abandon a world with a fighting chance! Including this one!" Honor stated, returning to an edgy calm. "Why are we running from a planet which still has its fleet intact?" Honor asked Fury, his eyes burning into Fury like a laser.

       Fury felt there was no right answer so he took the only way out he knew, faith. "I have renewed my trust in the prophecy that the parasite will pose little hindrance to the Great Journey, and that an un-infested Halo will be found." Fury said calmly, a smile edging at his mouth.

       And what do you say to the extreme amount of people who have lost faith in the Great Journey?" Honor asked as he motioned for one of his servants. The Jiralhanae walked to him and listened as Honor whispered into his ear.

       "Their sins have overwhelmed them and when we enter the Great Beyond they will be left behind, their heresy will drive them mad." Fury answered as he watched the Jiralhanae servant suspiciously. It turned and barked, summoning four more to enter and stand in between Fury and Honor. "What are you doing?" Fury asked, motioning for his own guards to enter.

       Without answering Honor spoke to the Jiralhanae in their tongue, two of them walked to Hindering and lifted him out of his chair. "Put me down you heretic! Stop them!" Hindering screamed as one of the giant soldier flung him over his shoulder and carried him away. Fury knew what this was, a coup.

       Five of his loyal Kig-yar ran into the room and stood in front of Fury in a defensive semicircle, overlapping their shields and charging their plasma pistols. The Kig-yar screeched and opened fire on the Jiralhanae, the bright green light danced across Fury's vision. One Jiralhanae heretic went down as the plasma converged on him; his partner dropped his plasma rifle and yelled. He charged into the Kig-yar, flattening one and killing two more as they were flung into the bulkheads, their weak necks cracking like stale flatbread. Before he knew what had happened, Fury was knocked unconscious by the vengeful Jiralhanae.

       Corporal Trudy raised his pistol and aimed at the approaching sound, ready to fire. Suddenly the thing stepped into the globe of light given off by Trudy's lighter and he saw it was an alive and well Marine. "Holy crap, I thought you were one of them." Trudy said happily as he holstered his pistol.

       "Same here." The Marine said, letting his SMG fall loosely by his side. "What's all this stuff on the ground? And why does it smell so bad?"

       "You don't want to know. I'm Corporal Trudy, first drop." He replied.

       "Private Kells, second drop." The Marine said, saluting. "And glad to see another Marine." He said as he holstered his SMG and sat on the small raised platform.

       "How'd you make it here alive?" Trudy asked as he took a seat beside him.
"I'm not sure." Kells said as he opened energy bar. "I woke up in a pile of bodies and ran like hell." He took a bite out of the bar, chewing the thick granola happily.

       "Lucky." Trudy said as he cleaned the bandage on his shin. "But I guess if we were really lucky we'd be on the Hopestar. Eh? Eh?" Trudy turned to Kells. "Are you okay?" He asked, looking at Kells lying face up on the platform. "Jesus!" Trudy yelled and ran to him, pulling a med kit from his pocket.

       Kells was lying with his mouth open, barely breathing and his face turning white. "Can you hear me?" Trudy asked as he ripped open the med pack. Suddenly Kells leapt up, turned and flailed his fists at Trudy. "What are you doing!?" Trudy yelled as he defended himself.

       Kells yelled, "Kill me!" Before the Flood which had infested his body took complete control.

       Hillers watched as the Marines guarding his civilian block turned and left. He listened to the conversation between two people behind him. "I heard a Pelican is returning from the mission but won't respond to hails." One of them said.

"Yeah, I heard the same thing, they say it'll land in a few minutes in bay one. I wonder why the Marines are running around." The other responded. Hillers clutched his concealed pistol tightly, working the slide as quietly as he could. Something was about to happen.

Hopestar :Cp 5 pt 1 : Fear
Date: 5 February 2005, 3:29 AM

You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
-Eric Hoffer

       Trudy struggled under the weight of the had been Marine. He drew his pistol as the Flood began pummeling his chest. He was unable to turn the pistol to the thing as it held his wrist to the floor.

       The abomination bared its teeth and closed them on Trudy's shoulder, ripping and tearing at his skin. He began throwing himself left and right in an attempt to get the thing off of him. It dislodged and stumbled to the ground, snarling and growling. He drew his pistol and fired, the bullets colliding with the creature and tearing it apart from the inside.

       The thing seemed barely fazed by being shot and lunged at Trudy, throwing himself into him and knocking him over.

       Trudy submerged in the thick liquid that covered the floor and struggled to get up, the weight of the liquid holding him down.

       Food. The presence thought using his mind. Food. It thought again. The presence was stronger than ever, pushing him back, back into a hole in his mind. Kells was barely able to think, his mind taken over by this presence, this Flood.

       His body moved against his will, completely under the power of the presence. Get out, get out, I won't let you, you can't! Kells yelled at the other inside his mind, trying with all his will to bring his body back under his command.

       The Flood had infected him when he was unconscious, changing his body from the inside before taking over. Kells managed to fight the other just enough to see through his eyes, see the room surrounding him. Then he was hit with a pain like no other he had felt before, an icy pain, which throbbed and grew every second. A hunger, a hunger to consume.

       The presence lashed out and pushed Kells back into the deep recesses of his mind, cutting him off from the outside world. He fought with all his strength and managed to once again see. Trudy had emerged from underneath the liquid, drawing a knife and lunging at him and stabbing. The pain rushed through Kells as his body was stabbed, but it was nothing compared to the icy hunger.

       The presence was caught off guard by the sudden pain and withdrew, leaving Kells in control of his body. "You have to kill me!" Kells yelled through his real mouth. He could see that Trudy was surprised but took only a second to continue stabbing him. Kells turned his attention back to keeping the presence out of control, making sure he couldn't kill Trudy.

       The other stopped fighting for a second then lashed out and pushed Kells back into the pit off his mind.

       Hillers watched curiously as the Marines secured the civilian block. Something is happening they aren't telling us. His hand brushed against his concealed pistol. He stood and walked to one of the Marines guarding the main doors. "What's happening? Why are you locking the section down?" He asked as he watched the Marines unmoving gaze.

       "Just calm yourself and this will be over before you know it." The Marine answered, trying to give as little information as possible.
       "I have a right to know if I'm in danger." Hillers said, testing the boundaries of what would piss the Marine off. "Civilian, I have to ask you to go back to your area and stay there." The Marine said, moving slightly as he prepared to restrain Hillers.

       "Fine." He said as he turned and walked back to his bags. He opened a small sack and pushed in what he had just stole from the unknowing Marine. He counted it quietly as he put the loot in his bag. One M6D with ammunition, one I.D. card, and a tazer. He thought to himself as he hid the bag. Not bad.

       The Captain watched the situation screen; all the sections had been shut down and were being guarded. If there were Covenant stowaways on that Pelican they wouldn't get far. He turned to his communications officer. "Any response from it?" He asked, knowing the answer already. "No sir. But they are headed straight for docking bay one."

       He activated a comm link to every Marine on the Hopestar. "Prepare for complete lock down, all units are ordered to report anything unusual. Begin patrols." He shut off the comm and relaxed in his chair. What am I doing? I'm letting an unresponsive Pelican dock with a ship full of civilians; my old instructor would kill me. He thought as he remembered his days in training.

       The Captain sat up in his chair. I've made a bug mistake. He thought to himself as he realized how likely it was this was a Covenant trap. He opened a comm to all the Marines again. "I want five squads at docking bay one, now!

       The group of misshapen, rotting, and generally disfigured Flood soldiers stood in the belly of the Pelican which had just docked with the Human ship. But one of the flood stood out from the rest. He was normal. In every aspect the Flood looked like a living breathing Human except that his face was slightly pale. Inside his chest cavity sat a new kind of infection form, happily controlling everything its newly claimed body did. The other Flood waited for the Pelican to be opened so they could feast on the tasty morsels that lay just beyond the small barrier of metal. Yes....Yes... The Flood heard their master beckon to them, telling them what they wanted and how they would get it.

       The infection form expiremented with its body, stretching its fingers and kicking the bulkheads. Suddenly every Flood on the Pelican sensed a warm sensation wash over them. Food was approaching.

      The Soldiers formed a tight box around the Pelican. In all fifty two Marines had been called to make sure no Covenant got off this ship. Sergeant Yare watched as his men raised their rifles and prepared to open the hatch. "Check your fire and watch who you shoot." Yare said as he watched his motion tracker. "We have one contact inside, blow the hatch and let see if it's Human." Yare said as he readied his Battle Rifle.

       "Sir, the cockpit, something's coming out." One of the Marines guarding the front of the ship yelled. Yare began running to the nose of the ship as he barked orders not to open the hatch. He stood in front of the cockpit and watched a Marine crawl out. "You okay Marine? How many more in there with you?" Yare asked as he helped the injured Marine out of the cockpit.

       "Jus...Just me." The Marine answered, speaking like he barely knew any English.

       "He might have blood loss; get him to the med bay, squad one, guard the pelican, the rest of you get back to the barracks." Yare yelled orders as he observed the Marines wounds.

       The Marine force escorted the survivor out to the sick bay, leaving the eight men of squad one guarding the Pelican. "Man, how long we have to guard this tin can?" Private Writ asked as he casually inspected his rifle.

       "As long as the Sergeant says" Corporal Lyle said as he walked to the back end of the Pelican.

       "Screw that, I'm leaving." Writ said as he made for the door.

       A loud clack resounded throughout the bay. Private Writ stopped dead in his tracks. "What the hell was that?" The hot headed Marine asked rhetorically as he slowly tuned to face the Pelican.

       "I'm calling it in." Corporal Lyle said as he flipped on his comm unit. "This is Corporal Lyle, suspicious sounds heard within vicinity of the Pelican, over." He waited impatiently for command to answer.

       "Hey, the hatch is opening!" One of the other Marines said as the back end of the Pelican slowly cranked downward.

Hopestar : Cp2 pt2 : Fools and Fear
Date: 5 February 2005, 4:02 AM

There are fools with wit, but never any with judgment.
-La Rochefougauld

       "Corporal, I'm sending another squad down there. Can you clarify what noise you heard?" Ensign Houghton spoke into her mic as she doodled on a pad of paper on her desk. After a few seconds of waiting she tried again. "Corporal, can you hear me?" She sighed and leaned back in her chair. Dang Marines She thought as she stretched her sore arms and glanced back at her monitor. She settled back into her chair and spoke into the mic again. "Corporal, answer me."

       "Squad twelve, they aren't responding." She spoke into her mic, informing the reinforcements she had sent to squad one. She waited for recognition but received none. "Squad twelve, do you read." Once again there was no response.

       She stood from her chair and walked past the rows of other coordinators to the office at the end of the room. Normally she would have been happy to have a chance to stretch her legs and get a break from her tedious duties but this time two squads weren't responding.

       She reached the desk of the head of department, Mr. Kuroki, a short balding man of Chinese decent who seemed to take some kind of offence to anything she said. "Mr. Kuroki..." She said, waiting impatiently as he slowly swiveled around in his overly large chair.

       "Yes." He responded in his slow monotone voice.

       "Both squads one and twelve aren't responding, I think there might be Covenant onboard.

       Mr. Kuroki mulled over this for a few minutes, leaving Houghton standing in the hallway. If I warn the command I have to do paperwork on why, if I send another squad I'm okay! Mr. Kuroki thought selfishly as he rubbed his fat chin. "Send another squad." He said as he turned back to his computer.

       Houghton heaved a sigh and turned to walk back to her desk.

       The newly constructed Flood hive brimmed with dead bodies. The Humans had foolishly continued to send unaware food into their traps. Even now twelve new bodies were being added to their new army. Globs of stored bio matter adhered to the wall and guaranteed the soldiers food throughout their campaign.

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
-Benjamin Franklin

       Doctor Hutu examined the strange Marine sitting on the examination table, twitching and looking around at the room. Hutu was behind a two way mirror, watching dozens of bio scanners intently.

       His heart rate was almost twice the resting rate and his blood pressure was through the roof. The doctor reached over to a cabinet and removed a small jar containing dozens of small white pills. These would lower the patients heart rate and blood pressure, then he could start the internal scans.

       He walked through the door into the examining room where the Marine sat. His head whipped around to face the Doctor as he entered the room. The movement was so fast and violent it scared him a little. The Marines eyes watched him intently, unmoving, always staring at him blankly.

       Hutu extended a flat hand holding two pills in it. "I need you to swallow these." He said, smiling politely as the Marine reached to grab them. His hand was an inch from recovering the pills when it suddenly jerked, flying at the doctor and colliding with his face. He fell to the ground, unconscious. The flood infested Marine stood over him, watching the Human, then leaned down to him.

       Hillers stood next to the other civilians in his block, standing silently, listening to the tiny scratching and scrambling sound the echoed through the large room. The Marine guards ran around, trying to calm the frightened people. Hillers slowly walked to his new found friend, a man named Karl. "Here." He said as he discretely handed him his extra pistol. Karl nodded and his it under his shirt. Then they continued to stand, listening to the ominous scratching and clanking created by the unseen horrors.


       The rest of the civilians looked around the room, searching for the source of the noise. One person bolted for the door only to be restrained by the guarding Marines.
"Remain calm." The Marines yelled as they forced the runner to the ground.

       "Sir, two more patrols aren't responding, and there's still no word from our people on the Covenant ship." Ensign Srew said as he nervousley watched several screens in front of him.

       The Captain glanced around at his crew, working bussily on dozens of computors, their orange jump suits standing out from the grey walls of the warship. He calmly smoothed out his own grey uniform and brushed some of his hair aside. "Prepare for emergency jump." He said, breaking the monotonous sound of typing that filled the bridge. "All ships." He finished, gauging the reactions of his crew. All of them looked at eachother, dumbstruck by the sudden decision.

       "Sir, we still have men on that ship, if we leave they-" Ensign Srew was abruptly interupted by the Captain. "And I have ten thousand people on this ship! If we stay more Covenant might get onboard, I'm not risking thousands of lives for a few M.I.A. Marines!" The Captain yelled, losing his usual calm and suprising the bridge crew with the sudden outburst.

       What happened to leave no man behind? Srew thought as he sent the command to the other ships.

       Kells stood looking down at the Flood he had finally managed to kill. I can't get to the ship on my own. He thought as he removed his knife from the slain monstrousity. They'll come, they'll save me. He reassured himself. He sat on the raised platform and slowly curled into a tight ball, all of his training and conditioning forgotten as he slowly cracked, like a candle light flickering before it dies. They'll come...

The needs of the many...

Hopestar : cp 6 pt1 : Failure
Date: 9 February 2005, 10:50 PM

There is nothing that fails like success.
-G.K. Chesterton

       The vials clinked against one another as they were carried down the hall by Sherry, Doctor Hutu's assistant. She entered the examination room looking down at the several vials she carried. "I have the sodi..." She looked around the room. Its usually organized tools and implements were scattered about, broken and out of place. The pure white floor was covered in an inch of various liquids released from the broken vials and beakers which lay broken. "Doctor?" She called out, looking for any sign of Hutu. She turned to the intercom by the door and activated a link to security.

The had been Marine waited in its hiding spot behind a large cabinet, watching the Human which had just entered. It appeared to be using some device on the wall. The Flood didn't care what she was doing, it only cared that she was food. The Flood Marine crept into position behind the Human, slowly baring its teeth and preparing to leap.

       Ensign Houghton answered yet another call. "This is security and coordination, what do you need?" She asked, thinking of the unresponsive Marine squads. "Hello?"

       The other end of the line was dead, without any sound coming through. She quickly traced the call back to sick bay two. "Is anybody there?" The waited, hearing nothing except the typing from the others around her.

       A sudden noise came through and startled her. It was a loud crack, followed by a kind of ripping, a tearing. The sound continued, somehow disturbing her. She canceled the link and opened another to an idle Marine squad. "I need you to get to sick bay two, on the double." She said.

       "Yes ma'am, and whose orders am I following?" A Marine's voice came through the link. She disconnected the com, knowing the Marine would do as he was told.

       Hillers waited among the other civilians, watching the door intently. Only a few minutes ago the Marines outside had dropped out of contact and a loud scraping could be heard on the other side. Suddenly the door began to shake, a loud slamming sound echoing through the civilian block. The Marines took up a position around the door and readied their weapons, aiming at the door. Another smashing sound was heard and the door began to buckle, its strong metal stretching and twisting.

       A burst of static came over the intercom before it quickly became silent. The civilians became frightened as the Marines clutched their weapons, all of them staring at the door.

       The Captain watched as the slip space gap opened and his fleet entered it, leaving the Covenant ships behind. "Sir, the reports I'm getting doesn't match anything the Covenant does." Ensign Hued said, turning in his chair to face the Captain.

       "What else could they be?" The Captain asked, thinking about any chance of mutiny. He quickly dismissed that thought in favor of listening to his crew's suggestions.

       "We could ask ONI." The Ensign suggested.

       His vision slowly turned from a black fog to a blur, around him he could see red, and more red. He stood up and looked around him, all of his joints ached and he had a headache worse then any he had experienced. The sky looked as if it were on fire, and in the distance he could see roaring fires reflecting off of the glassy ground. But were he stood seemed almost untouched by the fire that had consumed the rest of whatever planet the stood on.

       He began wandering, walking aimlessly away from where he had awoken. Where, what... He began to wonder. Suddenly all of his memory, all of what had happened rushed back to him, to fast for him to sort out, like a fire hose aimed at a tea cup.

       The Captain sat across the polished mahogany desk from the ONI officer, waiting patiently as he finished his glass of brandy. "So, what else could be on my ship?" He asked, watching the officer greedily gulp the golden colored brandy.

       The officer set the large quartz glass on the desk, creating a quite thump . He leaned back in his chair, casually eyeing the artwork that adorned the walls of the Captain's office. "Quit stalling Goldman, what's on my ship."

       The officer leaned forward, putting his elbows on the desk and bringing his face uncomfortably close to the Captain's. "Flood." He whispered. The effects of the several cups of brandy taking effect on the usually secretive officer.

       "Flood, I thought they were a rumor!" The Captain exclaimed, wondering if the officer had drunken too much brandy.

       "No, that's what we wanted you to think, they're real." The officer stopped talking and started belching. He grew more obnoxious with each burp.

       The Captain motioned and one of the guards escorted the officer out of his office.

       "Seal all sections, vent the atmosphere from anywhere without people in it." He ordered his bridge crew through his com. "Now."

       Hillers watched the door, clutching his concealed pistol. Whatever was on the other side of the door continued to throw something against it. The metal groaned and began to buckle, threatening to break. Pssshhh . A small hiss could be heard through out the room. "They're venting that section, seal the door!" One of the guards yelled. Immediately a group of people were working busily with welders to seal the small holes which had opened in the door. Even as they worked the door continued to break.

       The squad of Marines entered the sick bay, taking in the wreck it had become. After the door closed the room was plunged into darkness, the Marines activated their helmet lights and cast a dim yellow glow on the room. They scanned the area with their eyes, looking for anything strange. A cloud clank echoed behind them as the door locked. "What the hell was that?" One of the soldiers asked.

       "They're sealing the ship, I would guess they're gonna vent the gasses right out from under those split chins." The Sergeant said, still examining the room.

       The Flood Marine hid behind a group of boxes along with a dozen of his fellow infection forms, watching the new food intently, knowing they had no means of escape.

Hopestar : Cp6 pt2 : Secrets
Date: 11 February 2005, 12:06 AM

Three people may keep a secret if two of them are dead.
-Benjamin Franklin

       The Prophet of Fury awoke inside a small cell, surrounded by Jiralhanae. The dim red glow of the room barley illuminating their faces and leaving shadows in every corner of the gaping room. Near him stood the Prophet of Honor, without his chair or headdress. "You have made a mistake, Fury." Honor said calmly, one of his claws twitching slightly. The Jiralhanae around him seemed uninterested in the conversation.

       From somewhere behind Honor the transparent silhouette of a Sangheili stepped out of the shadows, followed by four more. Fury watched the cloaked Sangheili silently walk behind the four Jiralhanae. "What are you doing?" Fury asked, motioning with his eyes towards the Sangheili.

       "Clearly you are blind Fury, you have not seen what so many have, the Great Journey is false, and of that I have no doubt." The Jiralhanae grunted and looked at him, bewildered. Before they could do anymore the guards were cut down by the Sangheili, their large heads detached from their furry bodies.

       "I have renounced the false Covenant, now I serve only the truth. You have been blessed to witness the dawn of a new era. The age of the New Covenant." Honor finished, his lips forming a thin smile.

       "How dare you speak such heresy, when the Great Journey..." Fury was interrupted. "There is no Great Journey you fool! Do you not understand why our lords constructed these great rings! They were afraid."

       "Afraid! How can you ever say that our lords were afraid of anything!" Fury yelled, his anger so great he could barely see. Honor ignored him and exited the room, followed by his Sangheili.

       Corporal Trudy remained curled into a tight ball, muttering to himself softly. Around him the large Covenant room seemed to close in on him. "They'll come." He muttered again, staring at the walls that seemed to grow closer every second. He slowly unfolded from his ball. "I have to get out." He walked under the whole in the ceiling, looking up at the only way he could get to the Pelican. "I have to get out."

       He stopped walking and sat down on a large rock. He remembered why he was here. He had been on the Forerunner ship, he had killed Truth, but what had happened then? He looked up at the sky. He could see a sun just barely sitting and above him a large moon shone, its features clearly defined. Luna.

       It was Luna and this was Earth. Around him he saw raging fires claim what little material was left. They had glassed Earth. He looked at the ground around him. There was no sign of the glassing for at least a mile around him. He had seen this before, on Reach. He stood, his burnt and scarred armor reflecting light like a mirror. Cortana. He thought as he began walking again, trying to remember how he had managed to get down to Earth.

       The lone creature waited behind a small refuse bin, watching the best prize on the entire ship, the one with the most information. It sensed the food grow agitated, but apparently it was still unknowing of the little infection form's presence. It crept forward slightly, using its many small tentacles. Growing closer to the food, it watched carefully for any threat. Soon it had positioned itself behind the morsel, ready to leap.

       A small wad of paper sailed through the air and collided with wall near where it was hiding and fell to the ground, creating a loud rattle. The infection form reeled around to face the sound, staring blankly at the paper which had landed on the floor next to the refuse bin. "You missed." Said one of the Humans in the room.

       "I'll get it." Another said as he approached the bin, leaning down to collect the paper. "What the hell!" He exclaimed as he saw the little infection form, hiding behind the bin. It shrieked and leapt at the Human, clawing at his face and trying to get past its helmet.

       John 117 kept walking, following the sun as it began to set behind the glassy hills in the distance. The rhythmic clomp clomp of his metallic boots hitting the soft earth became a constant background noise, always lingering. Somewhere up ahead he could see a metallic structure, a ship. He activated the zoom on his helmet and the ship leapt forward. It was a Covenant Phantom, sitting innocently its image betrayed the horror it was the harbinger of.

       Next to the ship was a perfectly circular hole with several Covenant machines sitting around it. The hole had to be ten meters across at least. He looked around for any kind of weapon but found only stacked crates. Fortunately there also appeared to be no Covenant guards. He deactivated the magnifier and began sprinting towards the ship, looking at the sky for any sign of more Covenant. He was surprised to see no hovering cruisers or flights of Seraphs. Soon he had reached the Phantom and was peering into the hole. It went down beyond where the light from the sun could reach. He turned his attention back to searching for a weapon.

       He ripped apart several crates but found nothing other than some alien food. After several minutes of searching he decided to instead set up a base inside the abandoned craft. The inside of the ship was surprisingly large for a dropship but still had the annoying purple glow the Covenant seemed to favor. He entered the cockpit and finally found his prize, a plasma pistol was left on the floor, waiting. He collected it and clipped it to his belt, feeling much more secure with even this small weapon.

       Soon he had turned the ship into a suitable bunker by forming walls with the heavy crates. He spent several hours examining the crafts controls and was confident he could fly it if he had to. Approaching the hole he hefted an empty crate. He held it over the edge and released it, watching the crate gracefully tumble into the darkness. He listened intently, but never heard it hit the bottom. Eventually he reached a decision; he was going to go down the hole.

       He activated the Phantom and oriented it so its small grav lift was over the hole. Then he pondered about how to reverse the grav lift to allow him to float to the bottom. Cortana showed me how to do this. He thought as he tried to remember the brief lesson Cortana had given him. Third button from the right, then second from the left. He thought as he tapped a round image on the screen. A small hum emitted from the grav lift. Good enough. He stood from the uncomfortable Covenant pilot's chair and stood next to the bright grav lift. you're insane. He heard his memory of Cortana's voice scold him. "I know." He said to himself as he stepped on to the lift and floated downward into the darkness. Was I just talking to myself? He thought as he hovered.

Hopestar : cp7 : Dreams of Nightmares
Date: 16 February 2005, 8:41 PM

       The Marine struggled with the strange thing which had attacked his face, he grappled with it before an ally stabbed the thing with his knife. It exploded into fleshy ribbons, sending sickly green mucus onto the Marines face.

       He spat as he wiped the green guck of his face with his sleeve. "What was that?" He asked as he examined the chunks left by it.

       "Flood." The Captain said as he looked at it, remembering what the officer had said earlier.

       Fields of golden grasses stretched farther than he could see, lush green trees dotting the hillside before him. The azure colored sky above him was filled with colorful birds, singing peacefully as he walked. Behind him in the distance stood a small farmhouse, old white paint dry and flaking off, a large bell hung from the oversize porch, ringing lightly to tell him of dinner.

       A large dog walked at his heels, its thick black coat of fur seemed as dark as a starless night. He turned to head back to the farmhouse, walking casually towards the quiet ringing of the bell on the porch. Elsewhere he was Corporal Trudy, third division, but here he was Dan, just another person living out his life. The pleasant scent of potatoes and cooked turkey wafted along the light breeze. Large stalks of corn twirled and dipped at the mercy of the wind in a never ending dance. Slowly the saffron colored sky turned an angry red, the winds rising to a strong gust. The large dog began barking, sniffing the air as if something were wrong.

       The gentle ringing of the dinner bell stopped and all the birds in the sky above stopped singing, instead flying as fast as they could away from where he stood. The air grew hot and dry, the winds growing even stronger. The dog barked louder but he could barely hear him over the rushing wind. Somewhere in the distance a white flash appeared a solid wall of light stretching from the ground to some unseen place in the sky. It grew closer with startling speed, spreading until it was as wide as he could see.

       He turned and ran from the wall of light, feeling an intense heat begin to overtake him. The farmhouse was enveloped in the light; it burned instantly and fell to the ground. Stalks of wheat curled and turned black as the heat claimed them. He ran as fast as he could, stumbling occasionally in his hasty retreat from the heat.

       His foot landed on a large clump of dirt and twisted at the ankle, sending him to the ground. He rolled on his back, gasping from the pain. Above the sky he saw the source of the heat. A long purple streak of hatred hovered in the distance, shooting the beam of light and heat down at the planet.

       The wall grew closer, intense heat rippling through him.


       Corporal Trudy gasped as he awoke, looking around himself in a daze. He shook off his memory of his home and focused at the task at hand. Surviving until the Hopestar sent help.

       The Master Chief floated down the large hole, watching the solid rock around him with mild interest. Occasionally he would see a mineral which sparkled as he pointed his helmet light at it.

       He floated another foot down and saw an instant change; the dark rock was replaced with the all too familiar engraved metal he had known to be made by the forerunner. Complex designs ran the length of the hole, which had opened into a large rectangular room. The designs seemed to change and twirl as he watched them, golden and silver colored lines that were somehow always moving, even though they were fixed to the wall.

       He peeled his gaze away from them and focused on the room. It was at least ten meters across, and littered with square outcroppings of metal covered with delicate looking etchings. On one end of the room a large pile of cylinders the size of his arm stood stacked beside a large octagonal hole surrounded by bright lights. In a corner stood one of the large hovering holographic panels.

       In the opposite side of the room was a large door, covered with the same forerunner hieroglyphs. He was hovering two meters off the ground when the gravity field weakened, releasing him and allowing him to fall the last six feet. He landed gracefully on one knee in crouch and recovered instantly. He readied his plasma pistol and watched for any sign of Covenant. A thousand questions raced through his mind even as he was focusing on the search. Was this the Ark? Where are the Covenant? How'd I get from the Forerunner ship to here? He silenced his thoughts and focused on the holographic panel.

       Dozens of tiny holographic shapes moved in never ending circuits, flying along hundreds of tunnels and pathways. He zoomed in on a single stationary object. There was a vague feeling that he recognized it.

       He leaned closer to it and quickly felt foolish that he had not recognized it instantly. The little hovering hologram was a perfect representation of a Sentinel .
He shook his head and wondered why he hadn't noticed it immediately. Ever since he had awoken on Earth he had been disorganized and unfocused. Changed somehow.

       The metal clanked loudly as he walked to the door on the other side of the room. His fingers hovered over a small holographic keypad for a second before hitting a few of the keys, almost by instinct, like a pianist playing a piece he thought had been forgotten.

       The door beeped pleasantly and slid open, granting him access into an almost identical room beyond. Walking in, he noticed one large difference; the ceiling was covered with large cylinders. The strange cylinders were about two feet across and a meter from end to end, colored a strange light teal.

       He tore his gaze away from them and turned to search the area when he found himself face to face with a large Covenant Elite.

       He jumped back and brought his plasma pistol up, but did not fire. He realized as quickly as he had jumped back that it was nothing more than an excellent hologram. Stepping closer he saw that what projected it was indeed Forerunner technology, not Covenant. Scolding himself for not seeing it on the way in he began to wonder why it was there.

       "Exquisite isn't it?" Said a chirpy metallic voice behind him. He spun around and raised his plasma pistol, bringing it to bear on a small Sentinel. It was clearly a Monitor but it was different, smaller and its encasing metal roll cage that protected its 'eye' seemed to be thinner than that of Guilty Spark.

       "Who are you?" The Master Chief asked as he lowered his plasma pistol, knowing the Monitor would do no harm to him.

       "I am Monitor one-oh-seven, Wanderer." The Monitor said happily, bobbing up and down in the air as he talked. "Monitor of this ship." His yellow 'eye' blinked excitedly.

       "Wanderer? Ship?" The Master Chief said as he watched the little machine dance and twirl in the air excitedly.

       "Yes." The Monitor answered politely. "My designation is Monitor one-oh-seven and I am the protector of this vessel.

       "What happened to the Covenant that were here? And the Humans?" The Master Chief asked as he examined a Sentinel tunnel behind the Monitor.

       "Covenant? Humans? Ah, yes, you are referring to..." The Monitor drifted off as he was talking, like an old man forgetting the ending of a story.

       "What happened to them?" John asked, watching the strange Monitor. Guilty Spark had acted slightly like this while he was trying to activate the first Halo.

       "Ah, yes, they left as they ordered me to activate the weapon. Curious, only a few of the known life forms were present.

       "The weapon was activated!?" He yelled at the Monitor. "What happened?"

       "Nothing, they did not have the clearance to order such a breach of protocol. I was however informed of a..." Once again the Monitor trailed off, annoying the Master Chief to no end.

       "What is this vessel?" The Monitor turned to him, suddenly growing silent of his chirps and whirling sounds.

       "What is it?" The Captain asked as he looked down at the sedated balloon of flesh.

       "An infection form, the lowest of the Flood forms." ONI officer Goldman answered, gazing through the glass down into the examining room of sick bay three.

       "Hmm... And why wasn't I informed that the Flood wasn't a myth?" The Captain asked with the same tone of a Mother about to scold her child. "Why didn't you ONI idiots tell me of an immediate risk!"

       "We didn't find it necessary." Goldman answered, not moving his eyes from the little nightmare below him.

       "And you didn't think it necessary to warn me even when you knew I was allowing an unresponsive Pelican to dock with a ship full of unarmed civilians?" The Captain asked, beginning to grow angry.

       "It was your choice to allow it to dock." Goldman Turned away from the glass, his back facing the Captain.

       "My decision would have been different if ONI had given me all the information!" The Captain yelled, bits of saliva flying from the Captains mouth and splattering on the back of the officers black uniform.

       "What's done is done Captain; we should focus on the task at hand." The officer activated a com link to the Doctors in the room below. "Begin scans, and when that's done we'll start the dissection."

       "Meet me in my office at oh-seven hundred hours. Don't be late." The Captain turned and walked from the room, leaving Goldman to oversee the dissection of the Flood thing.

Hopestar : cp8 : Snags
Date: 2 April 2005, 1:23 AM

       The Master Chief watched the strange Forerunner contraption dance and twirl in the air, casually informing him of the destructive capabilities of the Halos.

       He snapped his arm out and caught the Monitor by a part of his metal roll cage. Bringing the thing to his face he began to speak, Wanderer stopped mid-sentence as he was jerked downward. "Answer the question, what is this ship?"

       "It is the vessel of saving, the last refuge." It began bleeping and blinking its 'eye' at him.

       "What do you mean?" The Master Chief asked, not allowing the Monitor freedom as it shook in his grip.

       "It is the last activation point of the Halos and the only safe point." The Monitor stopped shaking for a moment, "It is the Ark."

       The Arbiter shared his gaze with all the others on the bridge of the cruiser. There, showed in a perfect holographic representation, was the planet the Humans had directed him to. "This..." The Arbiter began, trying not to offend the Humans. "This is your home world?"

       "Yes..." Commander Miranda answered. "Yes it is." She studied the shining planet intently.

       "I thought you said your fleets would hold of those Prophet bastards!" Sergeant Johnson said loudly from somewhere behind her.

       The Arbiter turned to face the Human soldier. "I said they would try."

       "Well they didn't try hard enough!" Johnson yelled, his hand reaching for a cigar stub resting in his shirt pocket.

       The Spec ops Commander, nicknamed 'Nubs' by Johnson, stepped between them, facing the Human soldier. "We were very generous to offer our help and you should be very grateful." The Elite said, pointing one of his large claws at the Sergeant.

       Johnson stepped forward, bringing himself close to 'Nubs'. "Listen split jaw; I'd rather kill your ass with a fork than talk to it! So you're damn lucky I aren't doing just that!" Sergeant Johnson yelled, forgetting about Miranda's presence, as he stepped closer. Nubs drew himself to full height, towering above the Marine. "I would enjoy watching you try." The Sangheili said, in spite of the fact he didn't know enough of the Human language to understand what a fork was.

       "Don't push you luck you ugly mother..." Johnson was cut off by Commander Keyes.

       "That's enough Sergeant." She turned to a small holographic pedestal to her right. "Cortana, I want a full scan." Cortana's transparent 'body' appeared on the pedestal.

       "Already scanning." She chimed in a monotonous, routine tone. Ever since they had brought her back from the Covenant city ship Miranda had noticed Cortana was slightly changed, behaving erratically and moody.

       "I found several Covenant bases and encampments here and here." She said, highlighting large areas on the holographic screen.

       "Any idea why the didn't glass the entire area?" Miranda asked, watching Johnson and Nubs glare at each other.

       "Yes. Same as on Reach, some artifact or other item of religious value to the Covenant." Cortana looked expectantly at the two Elites standing before her. "Isn't that right?" She asked, already sure of the answer.

       "Yes, but I do not know what it is they are searching for, I know only ancient legends." Nubs said quickly, turning away from Johnson.

       "Lets find what they're looking for." Miranda said, turning to exit the bridge.

       "What else have you been hiding Goldman?" The Captain asked, glaring at the unmoving officer.

       "That information is classified to a level of..." The Officer was cut off by the raving Captain.

       "I don't care if God came from the damned clouds and classified it himself! I want the information now!" The Captain stopped his pacing back and forth around the table. "What else are you hiding?"

       The Officer felt that there was no way out of taking the blame. "There is one thing Captain." He said slowly, as if trying to give himself time to escape.

       The ground shook and threw the Master Chief sideways. "What's happening ?" He snarled at the Monitor.

       "I have received the command to activate the weapons, the Flood has spread." The Monitor stated quickly, watching Master Chief glare at it.

       "Make it stop." The Spartan commanded the hovering machine.

       "Protocol does not allow me to do that. Once the Flood has been released, there is no other way of stopping them." The Monitor dropped down to Master Chief's level. "Or they will consume the entire galaxy." It said, sounding surprisingly melodramatic for a machine.

       "I don't care, turn the thing off." The Master Chief watched the Monitor bob slightly to the side in contemplation.

       "I can't do that. A level eight release in the area of. . ." The Monitor seemed extremely disturbed when he was interrupted.

       "Isn't there any other option? Some way we can stop them?" The Chief inquired abruptly, taking no notice to the Monitor's speaking.

       "No, once I am commanded to fire I cannot stop the process." The Forerunner contraption turned from him and floated away, humming merrily. He turned and did the only thing he could think of.

       The Master Chief ran down the alien corridors, searching for anyway to stop the system from engaging. His feet hit easily on the metal as he slid into a large room, full of delicate looking machinery and transmitters. Content that this would affect whatever was contacting the Halos he raised his Plasma Pistol and began firing randomly at everything in the room, burning the ancient things into molten puddles.

       As he fire the strange lighting around him turned from a pleasant off white to a dim red.

       Hillers watched intently as the groups of Marines marched in and out of the recently pressurized corridors. They moved quickly in stony silence, their rifles sweeping about anything they saw.

       He waited until a patrol passed him and slipped out of the civilian block into the dimly lit corridor. Walking softly he produced the pass card he had earlier taken from an unaware Marine. On one side it clearly read 'Blue', a basic clearance level.

       Soon he came to a large door marked 'Armory A2' with a large blue stripe running across its center. Excellent. He thought to himself, eager to get his hands on some weaponry. The doors silently slid open as he fed the pass card into a small slot. Upon entering he was caught off guard by how dark it was. Crouching to the ground he groped through the room.

       Suddenly he froze as his veins filled with ice. Voices. Somewhere ahead he could hear people discussing something in a language other than common.

       "Wissen sie vom Kristall??" Said a low voice, somewhere at the far end of the room. "Nein, hat Herr Goldman es alle sehr ruhige behalten" Answered the other voice.

       Hillers moved slightly, peering out from behind a rack he was behind towards the source of the voices. The floor plating clanked slightly as his knee slipped and he struggled to quietly regain his balance. "Was war das? Da drŸben!" Yelled one of the voices loudly.

       Not good. He thought. Before he could react a firm hand gripped his shoulder from behind and something blunt smacked into his head. Everything flashed white and then slipped into a hazy darkness deeper than the lightless armory.

       The large pyramid shaped ship erupted from the ground and shook off the dirt and debris that clung to its hull. It accelerated out of the atmosphere and began to orbit the planet.

       The Master Chief watched as the Sentinels began to surround him, several of the smaller types began examining what little damage he had managed to incur.

       Snag. He thought as he examined the dozens of machines hovering around him. The Monitor floated into the room and swept its 'eye' over the damage. "A pity Reclaimer, that you have chosen to do this." The Monitor seemed much different than Guilty Spark now. "This..." It said calmly, indicating towards the damaged machines. "Is a recycling system, which we rarely utilize and will take only a few cycles to repair."

       The Master Chief aimed the Plasma Pistol at the Monitor. "You are an annoyance, Reclaimer." The Sentinels closed in around him, their weapons glowing.

       "What is that?" Miranda asked, watching the large pyramid structure which had approached them.

       "Its definitely Forerunner." Cortana said. "One life sign."

       "Lets check it out." Sergeant Johnson said, eager to investigate.

       "Not so fast Sergeant, something is happening." Cortana pointed towards the viewscreen. A large blue pulse had emanated from the top of the vessel and rocketed upwards.

       "Not good." Cortana said quickly. "Hold on everyone."

       The Gravemind shuddered as it felt its minions report their failure on the human vessel. He growled to himself and turned his attention elsewhere. He could see through his scouts eyes, the lavish Covenant ship hovering in space, unaware of his approaching soldiers. Yes, inside...inside. He urged them.

       Fury yawned sleepily, peering out of his cell into the dark, unguarded room beyond. Honor has gone mad. He thought, watching the shimmering blue energy field that separated him from freedom.

       He was surprised by a sudden ticking, like that of an ancient clock. He rubbed his eyes and looked towards the source of the sound. On the holographic control panel sat a small bulbous shape, just barely illuminated by the panel. No. The things tentacles groped over the controls, as if controlled by a being other than itself.

       An audible beep reached Fury's ears. The energy field flashed and disappeared. The bulbous creature jumped from the control panel and skidded across the floor towards him. No! Fury tried to scream for help but no words left his mouth.

Hopestar : cp9 : What we Wish
Date: 7 April 2005, 7:23 PM

       The Prophet of Honor sat patiently on a large stool, watching the Sangheili across the table from him discuss his proposal. "Have you reached a decision?" He inquired.

       The Sangheili turned to him. "We have. . ." One said. "And we cannot allow it" He said.

       "You just don't comprehend what I'm telling you." Honor said, rising from his chair and hobbling to a holographic screen at the far end of the large room. It activated at his approach with a happy beep and bathed the dark room in its glow. "A horde of thoughtless soldiers, more powerful than the army of the old Covenant, marching upon any foe we command it to." Honor said, flipping through picture after picture of Flood combat forms.

       "Once released upon a planet they would destroy anything and everything, even their own kind."

       "We will not bring the infection into one of our colonies! And we don't have the manpower to destroy the existing parasites as it is! To create more would be insanity, and they themselves could capture a ship!" One of the Sangheili yelled, smacking his fist on the table in a vain attempt of accentuation.

       "Normally, but you'll see I have something to take care of that." Honor stroked his claw across a small keypad and a new picture leapt to life on the screen. The Sangheili were beyond speechless as they gazed in wonder.

       The officer walked quickly down the corridors of the ship, his eyes locked on the large steal doors growing closer to him. They were plain doors save for one mark on their center. 1. He stopped before them and held still, his eyes open. A white flash appeared, temporarily blinding him. As his vision returned the doors slid open, granting him access to the dark room. They slid closed behind him, the squeaky clean, brightly lit corridor forgotten.

       Finding a single chair Goldman sat down and promptly spoke. "You called for me."

       "Yes." Answered a plain, commanding voice that sent a shiver down his spine. Goldman waited for several seconds before speaking.

       "What do you require?" He asked, wincing as he spoke.

       "Information."

       "Is this about the shard?" Goldman asked, looking around for the source of the voice, certain that it was in front of him.

       "Yes, and the civilian you took." The voice said.

       Goldman turned in his chair, now certain the voice was from behind him. "I only told the Captain it existed, nothing more."

       "Very well. And what of the civilian?" The voice said strongly, making the officer feel extremely uneasy.

       "He overheard some of my people." Goldman looked at his feet, feeling the voice was coming from the ground.

       "How much does he know?"

       "I'm not sure he knows whether or not he knows anything, but they might be able to retrieve it from him." Goldman continued to look for the source of the voice, always wondering where it came from but secretly knowing he'd never find it.

       "Yes, they are being quite troublesome of late. You may go, retrieve your orders from Silvaria." The voice instructed, referring to the ship's AI, Silvaria.

       Hillers was abruptly awoken by the clang of metal instruments. His eyes snapped open and found themselves staring at a perfect metal ceiling. It shined brightly but reflecting no images. He tried to lift one of his arms but found it refused to move. One by one he checked his other limbs, all of them secured down in some way.

       "You're awake." Said a calm voice, like that of a poetry reader. He attempted to turn his head to see the person, but found even it was secured somehow. Straining his eyes he managed to see a faint silhouette of the person's head. I'm on a table.

       "Where am I?"

       "You are here." Answered the person, who he could see was wearing a white lab coat.

       "Where is here?" Hillers asked, trying to loosen whatever was holding his arms.

       "Here is where you are." Said the person, turning his back to Hillers. Somehow he managed to make the childish answer sound very professional.

       "Why am I here?" He began to feel very uncomfortable.

       "Because we wish it." The man answered without turning in the slightest.

       "Let me out. You have no right to restrain me." Thought raced through his mind. Am I in the brig? Who is he? How do I get off this damned table.

       "There is no right." The man turned from whatever he was doing outside of his vision and leaved over Hillers, a white surgeon's mask concealing the lower half of his face.

       "Why am I here?" He asked again, hoping to get a half decent answer.

       "Because we wish it." The man answered in the exact same tone as before. "Stop struggling, you'll only make it worse."

       Hillers was about to ask where he was again when he was hit with a spiking pain in his chest. He exclaimed in plain and began wriggling in a vain attempt of escape.

       "What are you doing?" He screamed as the pain began to grow, encompassing his entire torso.

       "What we wish."

       Goldman watched as the two officers took their seats at the large black table. "What do you recommend?" He asked as soon as they had touched the chairs.

       "A full number four, make him believe anything we tell him. But it won't be overnight." Said the first, a tall thin man wearing a glossy black suit, his thin mustache accentuating everything he said as it bobbed up and down.

       "Are you sure you won't damage him?" Asked the other, a short woman in the same attire, her blonde hair worn in a tight bun.

       "Of course not, he's had more than enough training. Apparently he used to be on the Defiant Arrow project." Answered the first, setting a red folder on the desk.

       "Very well, I'll inform One." Goldman handed each of them a small data pad. "Get to work."

       "It's already begun."

       The Captain sat for almost an hour, watching the planet grow large in the viewscreen. "We're entering orbit Captain."

       "Good, prepare ground teams to set up temporary structures, we won't be here long."

       Yes, there it is. Suddenly Gravemind's attention was called for by several of his minions. They were being disturbed from their slumber by a new presence. A dangerous presence. An edible presence.

       Yes...Let them come...Wait for them. Yes.

Hopestar : cp10 : Psyche
Date: 28 April 2005, 12:51 AM

       My eyes eased open, heavy with disturbed sleep. Around me the walls of the room were shrouded in darkness. My feet skidded across the cold floor as I bent down, my fingers groping the ground for something I had dropped.

       My hand searched and finally closed around it, a small item. Then the thing was gone, it had never existed and I had never found it. I looked desperately for it, I knew I needed it but didn't know what it was. My hands balled into fists a pounded the floor angrily. Where is it?

       Ice shot up my spine and I stood straight up. "All we see is all that is." Said a soft, calming voice. The voice was comforting. The voice was comfort. "I shall meet you where there is no darkness." The voice stopped, and disappeared into the dark shroud that encompassed the area.

       Light exploded into my vision, fluorescent figures and dancing shapes twirling before me, strange patterns that moved as I watched them. For one second I saw a face, then an ancient boat, then a different face. Whenever I saw an image it changed, always something new.

       "How is he doing?" Goldman questioned, his eyes glaring at the unconscious civilian.

       "Well, he should be ready for phase three by tomorrow." Answered the other officer, tapping buttons on a data pad which beeped merrily in response.

       "Inform me when he's ready."

       The Covenant cruiser accelerated, racing towards the blue pulse which had emanated from the Forerunner ship. "What are you doing?" Miranda asked, watching the thing grow closer.

       Cortana didn't respond, completely focused on what she had to do. The large pulse splashed over the ship's shields, dissipating into shreds of light.

       "I remember!" I yelled at the voice, frustrated with its ignorance. "The people grabbed me! They talked in some weird language and then they grabbed me!"

       "Prove it." Said the voice, sounding extremely professional for such a childish remark.

       "The people! They would remember it! They'll tell you it happened!" I stamped my foot on the ground for punctuation, my eyes drifting around the strange room. It seemed to deny some rules I couldn't remember. The place seemed strange and impossible but whenever I questioned something it made sense somehow.

       "They are lying. They aren't telling the truth. Just like you." The voice responded quickly, growing strong as it accused him of lying again.

       "They aren't! They know it!" I began to scream, trying to reconcile with the voice. "It happened!"

       "Prove it." The voice grew to a mocking whine, which still managed to sound like an honorable commanding officer.

       "It did happen! I remember it, so it did happen!" Sweat dripped down my face. This simple argument seemed to affect me strongly, challenging my mind more than any problem I had faced.

       "So you believe what you remember decides what is? What you remember affects what happened?" The voice said 'happened' strangely, with a stern demeanor.

       "N...No... I...I mean that I remember what did happen." I stammered weakly, sensing inescapable philosophical defeat. It felt like my core beliefs were being ripped away bit by bit. I was being ripped away bit by bit.

       "And you're saying your memory is perfect? Prove it. What happened on your eighth birthday?" The voice asked calmly, seeming sure of itself.

       "I ... I had cake and...Got a rifle from my dad." I wiped my forehead with my sleeve. "I don't remember, that's all. More still happened."

       "Prove it." The voice became stern again, reminding me of my old Sergeant when he punished dysfunctional soldiers.

       "Ask my dad, ask the other people, they'd all know more of what happened." I began to mumble, the strength in my tongue and lips draining away as I slowly lost the will to fight.

       "They would lie. They would all lie. Just as you do. All we see is all that is. Nothing more."

       Anger boiled up inside me as I attempted a last effort to defend what I thought was right. What I knew was right. What was right. "There is more! There is more! The undiscovered planets! The wrapped dimensions! The past! There is more!"

       "Nothing more." The voice stretched out 'nothing' just long enough to anger me further.

       "No! No! No!" I yelled repeatedly, jumping on the ground and flailing my arms. "There is more! There is more!"

       "Nothing more... Nothing more...Nothing more..." The voice drove into me, pushing me to the ground and beating every mental defense I could muster.

      "There is more." I whimpered, on the verge of wailing like a newborn.

       "Nothing more."

       "Is he ready?" Goldman asked impatiently, sweat beading on his forehead as he sensed an imminent visit to one.

       "Yes, but I'm not sure he won't reject during phase four. He's strong, even if he doesn't look it." The officer responded, handing Goldman a red file, bulging with papers and data pads.

       "Move to phase three, and reduce his dosage slightly. I want to speak with him." Goldman said, motioning towards a monitor displaying live video of the captive.

       "Of course not sir. I'll start the neural links, he'll be ready in a few hours." The officer smiled politely.

       "What?" He asked, hoping to get a half decent answer from the contraption.

       "The communication has been interrupted. This is unacceptable." The Monitor turned away, disregarding the captive Spartan.

       Seizing his first opportunity the Master Chief bolted upwards, knocking one of the Sentinels into a group of others, creating a tumbling mess of disoriented machines. He ran down the hall way as Sentinel's beams scraped across his shields, which whined in sympathy.

       Rounding a corner he dropped to one knee and prepared for the floating machines. Just as one turned the corner he leapt forward, grabbing the Sentinel by its flanges and throwing it into the bulkhead with all the strength he could muster. The instant it impacted it exploded into a dozen large pieces, flying in all directions.

       The Master Chief quickly swept up one part, the weapon, and turned to the rest of the flying contraptions, activating the laser as he had long since learned to do. If nothing else... He thought, his shields flaring as he exchanged fire with the attacking Sentinels. I know how to mess up their recycling system.

       The Sangheili sat in silence as the Prophet of Honor completed his speech.

       Afenraa's claws tapped absently on the table in comprehension. "This is why the holy rings were constructed?" His mandibles clenched tightly, feeling the answer before it came.

       "Indeed." Honor hobbled back to his chair, waving away offered assistance from his servants. "And this is what they shall be used for." A groan escaped his thin lips as he sat, feeling his age slowly catch up to him.

       Afenraa watched the old Prophet gaze at the Sangheili expectantly, his dark brown eyes unmoving and showing little emotion, like that of a toy. "And when we return?"

       "Empty, all of it empty." The Prophet's lip curled into a wicked grin.

       "How many will it house?" One of the other dignitaries glanced at the still active screen.

       "Everybody. Not a single worthy one will be left behind." The ancient chair creaked as the weight moved slightly in its cradle.

       "Very well." The Prophet's grin only grew bigger.

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