Halo: Dust and Echoes (Chapter Excerpt)
Mar 10, 2011 18:43:52 GMT -8
Post by Aethryx on Mar 10, 2011 18:43:52 GMT -8
^Title is a WIP title, not the final fanfic title.
This is a chapter from a WIP fanfiction project of mine, based on Bungie's latest Halo installment, Halo: Reach. The fanfic occurs at the same time as the game's plot, focusing on another Spartan team, Echo team, and their fight to protect Reach from the Covenant.
This particular chapter has Echo team entering New Alexandria to defend it from the first major attack. (I'm not very good at making detailed synopses, so here you go.)
Looking for critique, and whether or not I should continue expanding this.
This is a chapter from a WIP fanfiction project of mine, based on Bungie's latest Halo installment, Halo: Reach. The fanfic occurs at the same time as the game's plot, focusing on another Spartan team, Echo team, and their fight to protect Reach from the Covenant.
This particular chapter has Echo team entering New Alexandria to defend it from the first major attack. (I'm not very good at making detailed synopses, so here you go.)
New Alexandria
July 27th, 2552
Adam-4 entered the cockpit of the Pelican dropship to take a look at the New Alexandria skyline. It was a majestic sight, with large towering white buildings poking through the clouds, and waves crashing into the shoreline next to the large city. The best part about it was that the Covenant hadn't appeared to have gotten to it.
"Well that's an amazing sight," Ken-5 said as he entered the cockpit with Adam. The pilot, Casey-1, had just recently dropped off Lisa at the hospital in the city, and Ken was hoping to see her before they have to defend the city.
"I think we should find Lisa first, make sure she's okay," Adam suggested, as if he had read Ken's mind. "Is she still at the hospital, Echo-1?"
"She's currently getting her arm patched up. The prosthetic was a quick fix, they're trying to get her a better-fitting robotic one. I'll drop the two of you off there if you want."
The Pelican flew between the towers of the city down to a hospital halfway down to ground level, a rounded white building with a large red cross on the side and a flat roof for landing aircraft. Adam and Ken got off, and the ship flew away to ready the city's defensive. Ken seemed to be in a hurry, as he quickly entered the building and searched for Lisa's room. Adam formed a grin under his visor.
"You like her, don't you?" Ken sighed and frowned.
"I feel bad for her... She just lost her father, her only family." Adam was still convinced that he was growing feelings for her, as they found her room. Lisa was sitting in a chair, staring out the window. Her long brown hair was laid down, and her left arm was completely replaced by robotics. She was no longer wearing a hospital gown, and instead wearing her usual clothes. Ken smiled as he saw her, making an approach to make sure the arm was good on her.
"Hey, Lisa.. How're you holding up?" Lisa turned to see the two Spartans, still wearing the same distraught expression.
"Adam.. Ken.. How did you find me?"
Ken smiled. "The hospital isn't too hard to find.."
Lisa fiddled with her new arm. "It's strange, having machinery instead of flesh.. It's there, but it still feels like there's no arm there." She stood up and approached Ken. "The soldiers said I can't stay here. I'm to be evacuated on the next transport ship." She held up her wrist, wearing a white wristband that said A-43 on it. "That's my ship's number," She explained.
"I think that would be best for you," Ken replied with a nod.
At that moment, DOT piped in through Adam and Ken's radio. "I'm receiving intelligence reports that a Covenant carrier ship is taking position over this part of the city," the AI said with its feminine robotic voice. "I would advise you both to escort the civilian to A-43 and then take defensive positions."
"That's our cue, five. Let's get Lisa to the transport ship." At that moment, the whole building shook, as it was hit by a plasma round. The two Spartans ran out of the hospital with Lisa, avoiding the Covenant dropship as they ran across a bridge to another tower containing civilian transport hangars. They found A-43, and got Lisa on board safely. With no time to say their goodbyes, and a Covenant dropship hot on their tail, they tried to lead the ship away from the ships. Ken tried to shoot down the turret gunner with his DMR, giving them time to call Casey for pickup. Before they could do so, a Falcon T-copter dropped down from above, and Ken and Adam, jumped on board, manning the turrets. Up in the sky, storm clouds began to form over the sky, with rumbling thunder echoing through the towers. Casey took aim at the Covenant dropships, and with the press of a button, two rockets jumped out and soared underneath the Covenant craft, blowing it to smithereens.
"Ha! Take that, alien scum!" Ken shouted. As the chopper hovered through the city to the first defensive point, their radio came alive with radio communication as they flew through the invaded city.
"Ground Control, this is Staff Sergeant Kelly, requesting clearance to take off."
"Kelly, this is Ground Control, request denied. All clearance at this point is reserved for combat and evacuation craft."
"This is Civilian Evac Transport A-43, requesting clearance to take off."
"Confirmed A-43, we'll clear you once we have space."
"Not good enough. I have 600 civilians on-board, I have to get them out of here!"
The city then rumbled as a Covenant carrier ship flew over their heads, low over the city, then stopped and settled above one part of the city. Adam saw A-43 take off without clearance, attempting to evacuate the civilians. The transport was flying under the carrier, a very dangerous task, and Adam and Ken didn't want Lisa to get killed. As Ken shot down any air forces from the Covenant, Adam attempted to contact the pilot of A-43.
"A-43, this is Echo 5. You are directly under an enemy ship, fall back immediately, I repeat, fall back!"
"Copy that, Spartan, redirecting route ASAP." The ship began to pull sideways, but it wasn't fast enough. The ship was suddenly hit by a salvo round, a purple beam of glassing plasma from the carrier that tore straight through the ship and into the ground.
"I'm hit! Mayday, mayday, mayday!"
The ship began exploding in various places as it sank and crashed into the sea. Ken was distraught by the sight, and stopped firing. Adam could do nothing but watch as the ship carrying Lisa sunk under the water.
"Should we send a salvage team?"
"Negative. No point."
"I can't even watch.."
The predicted rain began to fall from the sky, and with Lisa gone, Ken grew outraged, angrily firing at everything in sight. Adam was still staring at the water, as he had nothing to fire at. Their chopper continued along the shoreline, finally slowing down near an AA gun site.
"Those motherfuckers are going to pay for this.." Ken said bitterly as they began to land. Casey got out of the Falcon with Adam and Ken.
"I assure you Ken, you have my condolences. But right now we've got a job to do. We need to get that AA gun back online." He pointed to the large gun a couple of klicks away. Adam grabbed a shotgun off the nearby gun rack.
"Where are all the Marines?" Adam asked.
"Look around." Adam looked, and saw the lifeless soldiers lying about. How he hadn't noticed earlier...
"Let's go!" Casey barked. They headed down the beaten path, and were soon greeted by the brutes that had taken over the AA gun. Adam blasted away one of them with his shotgun, while Ken stayed back to snipe them from a distance. Casey shot at two more with his assault rifle.
Soon the brutes were down, and the gun was free to be re-activated. Upon doing so, the gun sprang to life, firing heavy shells at banshees and dropships in the air.
"There's one more, you guys. Down that way." He pointed to the second AA gun a few more klicks ahead. As they ventured toward it, DOT spoke up again.
"Slipspace rupture detected. Slipspace rupture detected. Slipspace rupture detected. Slipspace rupture detected. Slipspace rupture detected..." She just kept saying it over and over. At first Adam wondered if she was malfunctioning, until he heard more chatter.
"Are you seeing this?"
"It's a whole damned Covenant fleet!"
"Slipspace rupture detected."
He couldn't see it through the clouds and rain, but Adam imagined that every ship in the Covenant's arsenal was sent here, just to destroy one species. But why? Why them? Why were they doing this?
"We're gonna die, aren't we?" Ken asked.
"We will if we just stand here! Let's go!" They ran to the next AA gun, pumping the alien creatures full of lead, then activated it as well. With both AA guns online, some Marines landed with a Falcon.
"Here's a Falcon, Spartans," One soldier said. "We'll stay here to guard the guns. You're needed elsewhere."
With that, they boarded the Falcon, this time with Adam in the pilot seat. He flew up to the top of the towers, this time with a much better view, despite the heavy sunset rain. He could see two more carriers over the rest of the city.
"Echo 5, this is Echo 2. Rendezvous at Club Error for further orders."
"Copy that, heading for Club Error."
As they approached their destination, there was a loud boom as on of the carriers began glassing the city. With a beam coming from the ship to the ground, the city underneath was immediately ablaze, giving off a red glow. Adam was hoping that all civilians had been evacuated, but he couldn't let his emotions get the best of him. He continued on, and arrived at Club Error. Sandra-2 was waiting for them, sporting her customized red armor.
"Adam, Ken. As you may know, we are to thank Noble Six for just recently taking down those Covenant jammers preventing most radio contact, especially my own. One of the jammers was here in this club, meaning some Covenant higher-ups were here to guard it as well. Six claimed there was an elite zealot here as well, a zealot who may very well have been carrying important UNSC property."
"Why didn't he look for it himself?"
"He was called away on another mission before getting the chance. Don't worry, there are no troops in this club. I made sure of that," She assured, brandishing her shotgun.
There was another glassing boom from the carriers as they entered the club. The place was still blaring heavy electronic dance music, and some holographic dance girls were still working. The place was littered with dead Covenant. They searched through the bodies for any zealot-class elites, until they finally found one near a dancing pole. Ken searched the body while Adam looked around. It was very eerie, the club itself seemed as though many people were here, but yet not a soul stirred in the empty booths and dance floors.
"Nothing. Let's keep looking."
They walked past the wreckage of the destroyed jammer, mindful of the two dead hunters nearby. Adam shivered, as he had always hated those things. With a muffled boom thundering outside, the lights in the club flickered. They entered a booth in the club, and found another zealot. Adam searched the body and found a strange data card, man-made in appearance.
"Found something... Think this is it?"
"I'm pretty sure. Let's get out of here, I have a feeling this tower is going to get glassed next."
Adam stored the card and left the club with Ken. The landing pad was clear, and Sandra was nowhere to be found.
"Echo 2, this is Echo 4 and 5. We need immediate pickup at Club Error."
"Roger that, 4 and 5. This is 2, I'm in a bit of a scrap right now, hold position until I can get you."
Adam and Ken waited in the rain, with no enemies nearby. Ken scanned the local towers with his sniper scope, shooting down a jackal here and there. He caught sight of a few Spartans in one shelled tower, who he guessed were members of Noble team. He scanned the area around them for snipers, sighting one above them. It appeared ready to fire. Adam watched the skies for Sandra, eager to get out of there. Before Ken could fire, the tower was suddenly hit by another salvo round, and he lost his balance and fell. He pulled the trigger as he fell, but missed. The alarmed sniper fired as well, and as Adam noticed the sniper through his integrated visor binoculars, one of Noble team's members was hit. The rest of the team immediately opened fire in the sniper's direction, but the alien got away. Ken got up and shot the jackal down, while the other team dragged their dead member away and out of sight.
At that moment, Sandra arrived with a Pelican, and the two Spartans jumped on-board. The dropship flew up out of the doomed city, as the Covenant carriers turned the entire area into a wasteland. As New Alexandria got further and further away, Adam sat down to rest, and removed his helmet. A marine was already on the turret, and Ken felt he should rest as well.
"That was pretty bad.." Ken commented.
"They're doing the same damn thing they did at Harvest, and those other colonies of ours. They must be on some kind of extermination campaign."
"That's their plan exactly," Sandra remarked, sitting down next to Ken. "By the way, Ken, I heard about your friend, Lisa. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it... It's not your fault." Sandra removed her helmet as well. Doing so, she revealed her short black hair, currently tasseled from the headgear, touching against her pale face. She was focusing on Ken with her dark brown eyes, a look of sympathy. Ken had also removed his helmet, and was looking back at her.
"I can't let it get to me. We have a job to do," he told her. She smirked, then patted him on the shoulder and returned to the cockpit to check on the two piloting marines.
"Did either of you find anything important in Club Error?"
"I found this," Adam replied. He took the data card out and showed it to Sandra. She took it and examined it.
"This belongs to Dr. Halsey as well.."
"Why are they so intent on stealing from her?"
"She must be working on a very important project. Something the Covenant want to get their hands on." She looked at the card some more. "We should get this back to her at once. DOT has confirmed that her new location is at the ONI Sword Base."
Adam stood up and looked outside as the Pelican headed to their new destination. With the rain gone, he could see the clear night sky, and the Covenant fleet battling above Reach.
***
July 27th, 2552
Adam-4 entered the cockpit of the Pelican dropship to take a look at the New Alexandria skyline. It was a majestic sight, with large towering white buildings poking through the clouds, and waves crashing into the shoreline next to the large city. The best part about it was that the Covenant hadn't appeared to have gotten to it.
"Well that's an amazing sight," Ken-5 said as he entered the cockpit with Adam. The pilot, Casey-1, had just recently dropped off Lisa at the hospital in the city, and Ken was hoping to see her before they have to defend the city.
"I think we should find Lisa first, make sure she's okay," Adam suggested, as if he had read Ken's mind. "Is she still at the hospital, Echo-1?"
"She's currently getting her arm patched up. The prosthetic was a quick fix, they're trying to get her a better-fitting robotic one. I'll drop the two of you off there if you want."
The Pelican flew between the towers of the city down to a hospital halfway down to ground level, a rounded white building with a large red cross on the side and a flat roof for landing aircraft. Adam and Ken got off, and the ship flew away to ready the city's defensive. Ken seemed to be in a hurry, as he quickly entered the building and searched for Lisa's room. Adam formed a grin under his visor.
"You like her, don't you?" Ken sighed and frowned.
"I feel bad for her... She just lost her father, her only family." Adam was still convinced that he was growing feelings for her, as they found her room. Lisa was sitting in a chair, staring out the window. Her long brown hair was laid down, and her left arm was completely replaced by robotics. She was no longer wearing a hospital gown, and instead wearing her usual clothes. Ken smiled as he saw her, making an approach to make sure the arm was good on her.
"Hey, Lisa.. How're you holding up?" Lisa turned to see the two Spartans, still wearing the same distraught expression.
"Adam.. Ken.. How did you find me?"
Ken smiled. "The hospital isn't too hard to find.."
Lisa fiddled with her new arm. "It's strange, having machinery instead of flesh.. It's there, but it still feels like there's no arm there." She stood up and approached Ken. "The soldiers said I can't stay here. I'm to be evacuated on the next transport ship." She held up her wrist, wearing a white wristband that said A-43 on it. "That's my ship's number," She explained.
"I think that would be best for you," Ken replied with a nod.
At that moment, DOT piped in through Adam and Ken's radio. "I'm receiving intelligence reports that a Covenant carrier ship is taking position over this part of the city," the AI said with its feminine robotic voice. "I would advise you both to escort the civilian to A-43 and then take defensive positions."
"That's our cue, five. Let's get Lisa to the transport ship." At that moment, the whole building shook, as it was hit by a plasma round. The two Spartans ran out of the hospital with Lisa, avoiding the Covenant dropship as they ran across a bridge to another tower containing civilian transport hangars. They found A-43, and got Lisa on board safely. With no time to say their goodbyes, and a Covenant dropship hot on their tail, they tried to lead the ship away from the ships. Ken tried to shoot down the turret gunner with his DMR, giving them time to call Casey for pickup. Before they could do so, a Falcon T-copter dropped down from above, and Ken and Adam, jumped on board, manning the turrets. Up in the sky, storm clouds began to form over the sky, with rumbling thunder echoing through the towers. Casey took aim at the Covenant dropships, and with the press of a button, two rockets jumped out and soared underneath the Covenant craft, blowing it to smithereens.
"Ha! Take that, alien scum!" Ken shouted. As the chopper hovered through the city to the first defensive point, their radio came alive with radio communication as they flew through the invaded city.
"Ground Control, this is Staff Sergeant Kelly, requesting clearance to take off."
"Kelly, this is Ground Control, request denied. All clearance at this point is reserved for combat and evacuation craft."
"This is Civilian Evac Transport A-43, requesting clearance to take off."
"Confirmed A-43, we'll clear you once we have space."
"Not good enough. I have 600 civilians on-board, I have to get them out of here!"
The city then rumbled as a Covenant carrier ship flew over their heads, low over the city, then stopped and settled above one part of the city. Adam saw A-43 take off without clearance, attempting to evacuate the civilians. The transport was flying under the carrier, a very dangerous task, and Adam and Ken didn't want Lisa to get killed. As Ken shot down any air forces from the Covenant, Adam attempted to contact the pilot of A-43.
"A-43, this is Echo 5. You are directly under an enemy ship, fall back immediately, I repeat, fall back!"
"Copy that, Spartan, redirecting route ASAP." The ship began to pull sideways, but it wasn't fast enough. The ship was suddenly hit by a salvo round, a purple beam of glassing plasma from the carrier that tore straight through the ship and into the ground.
"I'm hit! Mayday, mayday, mayday!"
The ship began exploding in various places as it sank and crashed into the sea. Ken was distraught by the sight, and stopped firing. Adam could do nothing but watch as the ship carrying Lisa sunk under the water.
"Should we send a salvage team?"
"Negative. No point."
"I can't even watch.."
The predicted rain began to fall from the sky, and with Lisa gone, Ken grew outraged, angrily firing at everything in sight. Adam was still staring at the water, as he had nothing to fire at. Their chopper continued along the shoreline, finally slowing down near an AA gun site.
"Those motherfuckers are going to pay for this.." Ken said bitterly as they began to land. Casey got out of the Falcon with Adam and Ken.
"I assure you Ken, you have my condolences. But right now we've got a job to do. We need to get that AA gun back online." He pointed to the large gun a couple of klicks away. Adam grabbed a shotgun off the nearby gun rack.
"Where are all the Marines?" Adam asked.
"Look around." Adam looked, and saw the lifeless soldiers lying about. How he hadn't noticed earlier...
"Let's go!" Casey barked. They headed down the beaten path, and were soon greeted by the brutes that had taken over the AA gun. Adam blasted away one of them with his shotgun, while Ken stayed back to snipe them from a distance. Casey shot at two more with his assault rifle.
Soon the brutes were down, and the gun was free to be re-activated. Upon doing so, the gun sprang to life, firing heavy shells at banshees and dropships in the air.
"There's one more, you guys. Down that way." He pointed to the second AA gun a few more klicks ahead. As they ventured toward it, DOT spoke up again.
"Slipspace rupture detected. Slipspace rupture detected. Slipspace rupture detected. Slipspace rupture detected. Slipspace rupture detected..." She just kept saying it over and over. At first Adam wondered if she was malfunctioning, until he heard more chatter.
"Are you seeing this?"
"It's a whole damned Covenant fleet!"
"Slipspace rupture detected."
He couldn't see it through the clouds and rain, but Adam imagined that every ship in the Covenant's arsenal was sent here, just to destroy one species. But why? Why them? Why were they doing this?
"We're gonna die, aren't we?" Ken asked.
"We will if we just stand here! Let's go!" They ran to the next AA gun, pumping the alien creatures full of lead, then activated it as well. With both AA guns online, some Marines landed with a Falcon.
"Here's a Falcon, Spartans," One soldier said. "We'll stay here to guard the guns. You're needed elsewhere."
With that, they boarded the Falcon, this time with Adam in the pilot seat. He flew up to the top of the towers, this time with a much better view, despite the heavy sunset rain. He could see two more carriers over the rest of the city.
"Echo 5, this is Echo 2. Rendezvous at Club Error for further orders."
"Copy that, heading for Club Error."
As they approached their destination, there was a loud boom as on of the carriers began glassing the city. With a beam coming from the ship to the ground, the city underneath was immediately ablaze, giving off a red glow. Adam was hoping that all civilians had been evacuated, but he couldn't let his emotions get the best of him. He continued on, and arrived at Club Error. Sandra-2 was waiting for them, sporting her customized red armor.
"Adam, Ken. As you may know, we are to thank Noble Six for just recently taking down those Covenant jammers preventing most radio contact, especially my own. One of the jammers was here in this club, meaning some Covenant higher-ups were here to guard it as well. Six claimed there was an elite zealot here as well, a zealot who may very well have been carrying important UNSC property."
"Why didn't he look for it himself?"
"He was called away on another mission before getting the chance. Don't worry, there are no troops in this club. I made sure of that," She assured, brandishing her shotgun.
There was another glassing boom from the carriers as they entered the club. The place was still blaring heavy electronic dance music, and some holographic dance girls were still working. The place was littered with dead Covenant. They searched through the bodies for any zealot-class elites, until they finally found one near a dancing pole. Ken searched the body while Adam looked around. It was very eerie, the club itself seemed as though many people were here, but yet not a soul stirred in the empty booths and dance floors.
"Nothing. Let's keep looking."
They walked past the wreckage of the destroyed jammer, mindful of the two dead hunters nearby. Adam shivered, as he had always hated those things. With a muffled boom thundering outside, the lights in the club flickered. They entered a booth in the club, and found another zealot. Adam searched the body and found a strange data card, man-made in appearance.
"Found something... Think this is it?"
"I'm pretty sure. Let's get out of here, I have a feeling this tower is going to get glassed next."
Adam stored the card and left the club with Ken. The landing pad was clear, and Sandra was nowhere to be found.
"Echo 2, this is Echo 4 and 5. We need immediate pickup at Club Error."
"Roger that, 4 and 5. This is 2, I'm in a bit of a scrap right now, hold position until I can get you."
Adam and Ken waited in the rain, with no enemies nearby. Ken scanned the local towers with his sniper scope, shooting down a jackal here and there. He caught sight of a few Spartans in one shelled tower, who he guessed were members of Noble team. He scanned the area around them for snipers, sighting one above them. It appeared ready to fire. Adam watched the skies for Sandra, eager to get out of there. Before Ken could fire, the tower was suddenly hit by another salvo round, and he lost his balance and fell. He pulled the trigger as he fell, but missed. The alarmed sniper fired as well, and as Adam noticed the sniper through his integrated visor binoculars, one of Noble team's members was hit. The rest of the team immediately opened fire in the sniper's direction, but the alien got away. Ken got up and shot the jackal down, while the other team dragged their dead member away and out of sight.
At that moment, Sandra arrived with a Pelican, and the two Spartans jumped on-board. The dropship flew up out of the doomed city, as the Covenant carriers turned the entire area into a wasteland. As New Alexandria got further and further away, Adam sat down to rest, and removed his helmet. A marine was already on the turret, and Ken felt he should rest as well.
"That was pretty bad.." Ken commented.
"They're doing the same damn thing they did at Harvest, and those other colonies of ours. They must be on some kind of extermination campaign."
"That's their plan exactly," Sandra remarked, sitting down next to Ken. "By the way, Ken, I heard about your friend, Lisa. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it... It's not your fault." Sandra removed her helmet as well. Doing so, she revealed her short black hair, currently tasseled from the headgear, touching against her pale face. She was focusing on Ken with her dark brown eyes, a look of sympathy. Ken had also removed his helmet, and was looking back at her.
"I can't let it get to me. We have a job to do," he told her. She smirked, then patted him on the shoulder and returned to the cockpit to check on the two piloting marines.
"Did either of you find anything important in Club Error?"
"I found this," Adam replied. He took the data card out and showed it to Sandra. She took it and examined it.
"This belongs to Dr. Halsey as well.."
"Why are they so intent on stealing from her?"
"She must be working on a very important project. Something the Covenant want to get their hands on." She looked at the card some more. "We should get this back to her at once. DOT has confirmed that her new location is at the ONI Sword Base."
Adam stood up and looked outside as the Pelican headed to their new destination. With the rain gone, he could see the clear night sky, and the Covenant fleet battling above Reach.
***
Looking for critique, and whether or not I should continue expanding this.