Hopestar : Cp6 pt2 : Secrets
Posted By: sam_fisha<sam_fisha@yahoo.com>
Date: 11 February 2005, 12:06 AM
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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.
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