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Alliance by Jack Roads



Alliance: chapter one
Date: 16 October 2005, 3:12 pm

Rystanei was nervous. He had been called to the prophet's chambers, and he feared it was about a… incident involving a low ranked brute being insolent to him that had occurred the other day. They never found the brute's body. Rystanei detested brutes. Clumsy, arrogant, insolent… they were the epitome of everything that he hated. He did not know how the prophets would take this news. But to his surprise, when he arrived at the prophet's chamber, he received a mission briefing. "Greetings commander." Truth said cordially. "We have a mission for you." He said. "You are to journey to the surface of one of the remnants of the holy ring, and retrieve a forerunner artifact for us. We will send a hand-picked squad of brutes with you, as well as some jackals". Rystanei stiffened at this. He knew that brutes in general hated elites. He would have to keep on his toes-especially due to the fact that there would be no fellow elites. "Very well." Rystanei said. He went to the armory to prepare.

Major Blaine White was nervous. They had been sent to a remnant of "Halo" to retrieve an item that the covenant was also looking for. He ran his fingers through his mane of stark white hair. Currently he had eight men, plus himself. They needed to get into a building , but it was guarded by six brutes and eight jackals. He only had eight marines, and five were fresh recruits. He decided to go on diversionary tactics. Two marines would make a distraction, and the other six would assault from behind. Blaine would use the sniper rifle to pick off troops as the attack commenced. He got into position, and when his marines got into position, he gave the signal to begin. Two of his marines walked into the clearing in front of the building. A brute noticed and primed a plasma grenade. Major Blaine sighted on the brute's head and fired. The grenade fell to the ground as the brute's head detonated in a shower of bone fragments and brain tissue. The grenade exploded, killing a brute and two jackals in a plume of blue death. The two marines fired at the brutes and jackals to get their attention, and it worked. While the remaining brutes and jackals fired at the marines, two white streaks and a rocket streaked through the air, killing all of the remaining enemies, save one brute. It berserked and charged straight at Blaine. He took out his shotgun and shot it in the face as it charged. "I don't care how tough you are. You can't take an eight gauge slug to the face." He muttered to the brute's corpse. "Good job, marines." Blaine said. "Jackson, report." "Bob is wounded, and Bill is dead." stated Prvt. Jackson. Blaine sighed. He remembered how much Bill talked about his girlfriend… she wouldn't take the news well. "Grab his tags, and lets move on." Blaine said.

Rystanei heard some commotion outside. He turned around and started for the entrance, but a brute captain blocked his way. "The covenant has cast out the elites." The brute said. "Soon your incompetent race will be annihi-" The brute didn't finish the sentence due to the fact that an eight gauge slug blasted 70 percent of his head away. A human was in front of him. He had long, stark white hair and
Red-brown eyes. "I am not your enemy, human." He said. "I know. I heard your little chit-chat." Replied Blaine. Suddenly Blaine froze. He whirled around and fired his eight-gauge pump action shotgun. The slug blasted a hole 4 inches wide in the jackal sniper's torso. All of the marines, even Rystanei looked in awe at Blaine, for the jackal had been fifty feet away, and Blaine had used a shotgun to kill it. Even the best sniper of the group, Corporal Jacobs was impressed, and she had taken out 3 enemies once with a sniper round that over penetrated them all. "So." Said Blaine. "What is your name elite?" "Rystanei. Though I would rather not have it. It was bestowed by the Covenant, who have cast my brethren and I out." He replied. "Hey, your armor is orange and red, so we could call you burn. It would be very apt." Said Blaine. "Very well." Replied newly christened Burn. "We should meet up with my brothers." Stated Burn. Blaine turned to his troops. "Marines! Lets go make some friends."



Alliance: chapters 2 and 3
Date: 18 October 2005, 10:28 pm

Chapter 2
"There they are. Fifteen elites, ten hunters, and twenty five grunts are being held captive." Said Burn, an elite with orange and red armor. "Do you have a plan to free them, Blaine?" "Yeah." He replied. "We should take out the brute sentries as covertly as possible, then make a diversion to attract the drones and jackals. There are four posts with two brutes in each. I can do two and you can do two. My marines will make the diversion after the sentries are down. Got it? Good. Go." As Burn silently came up behind a brute in his active camo, he caught a glimpse of Blaine creeping headfirst down a near vertical face. Then Blaine jumped down the remaining thirty feet and landed silently and perfectly behind the brutes. Burn was amazed at Blaine's catlike agility and stealth… it was inhuman. Bringing his attention back to the two brutes, he came up behind one, snapped its neck, then turned with his energy sword and shoved it into the brute's throat. Having finished both brutes, he turned to look at Blaine's position. All he saw was a brute corpse being dragged into the underbrush. That was two posts down, two to go. As Blaine stole through the underbrush, he saw Burn sneak up behind two of the last four brutes. Blaine, silent as a shadow, came up behind the brutes, snapped one's neck and slid his combat knife into the nape of the other ones neck, severing the spinal cord. With all the brutes down, he signaled to his marines, and they opened fire on the twenty jackals and fifteen drones. The jackals quickly formed up in a wedge formation and began to move forward. Corporal Jacobs with her sniper rifle took out two drones with one shot. Blaine saw that the drones were dropping like flies, How very apt. He loaded his shotgun with twenty-six pellet shells, and opened fire, taking out three jackals, then a jackal and a drone, then two drones. Burn came up beside him and opened fire with a carbine. Caught in a crossfire, the jackals and drones were razed quickly.

With the enemies neutralized, they freed the prisoners and met with their leader, a gold armored elite. They assessed the situation. They had two phantoms, but needed a bigger ship to get to human controlled space to alert the UNSC of their new allies. They decided to try to take over the small Covenant carrier that had brought them to Halo. They assumed that it had few troops on it due to the parties that were sent out to investigate halo's ruins. So they crammed twenty-nine troops into each phantom, and set off for the covenant carrier. It was easily duped into thinking it was one of their ships. Outside of the phantom there were a few jackals and a brute waiting for the occupants to come out. What came out instead were a few grenades that killed all of the jackals, and the brute. The occupants piled out, half of them staying with the phantom in case of trouble, and the other half headed for the bridge, including Blaine, Burn, and the gold commander. In the hallway the strike team encountered 5 brutes and ten jackals. A marine delivered a rocket to a brute's face, killing it and three jackals. Two brutes threw a grenade each, killing bob, an elite, and three grunts. Blaine fired his shotgun, killing a jackal sniper and injuring a brute. Then the marine with the rocket launcher fired another rocket, killing off the remaining brutes and a jackal. The five remaining jackals formed a wedge formation, but they were simply overwhelmed by the remaining two dozen elites, humans, grunts, and hunters. It turned out there were ten grunts, five elites, and two hunters in the cells. They equipped the troops with weapons and sent them to patrol the ship for any more brutes, jackals, or drones in the ship. After around twenty minutes of skirmishes that felt more akin to twenty days, they reached the bridge with five grunts, three humans plus Blaine, five elites, and three hunters, equaling 17 troops, twelve lost. They radioed to the other team ordering them to look for any remaining enemy troops and eliminate them. Blaine gave the elite commander the coordinates for earth, and they went into slipspace.

Chapter 3
When they reached earth, it was under attack by the covenant. "Damn. Burn, get your best men together. We're gonna board a covenant capital ship." Blaine said. Then he radioed to the Cairo station to not fire on his ship. Then he headed for the armory to prepare. He met Burn afterwards at a phantom with his best marines. They had a team that consisted of Burn, Blaine, five gray elites, five black elites, five white elites, two hunters, and three of Blaine's best marines, including Corporal Jacobs, Corporal Watson, and Carlos Janson, an ODST. They piled into a phantom with a Shiva nuclear bomb and flew to the nearest covenant capital ship.

When they reached the hangar, the five gray elites came out first in their active camo, positioning themselves behind the greeting group of brutes and jackals, and waited for the rest to come out. Two flash grenades came out, temporarily blinding the brutes and jackals. Then the rest of the team came out, firing into the enemy group. Blinded and caught in a crossfire, the brutes and jackals were eradicated in a matter of seconds. They moved into a hallway. A brute came around the corner and was greeted with a barrage of bullets and plasma so thick it was dead instantly. Beyond dead. Unrecognizably mutilated. A jackal came around the corner, and upon seeing the brutes mangled remains, vomited. As it was vomiting it took a shotgun blast to the side of the head, compliments of Blaine, spraying vomit and brain tissue everywhere. Another jackal came around the corner and slipped on the blood-slicked floor, landing on its back. A grenade rolled in between its legs, detonating and sending it's charred remains skidding across the floor, leaving a streak of blood in it's wake. Blaine put away his shotgun and picked up a jackal shield and a plasma pistol. He rounded the bend and shot a brute in the face with his plasma pistol. The shots melted its face away and the small amount of brains that it had oozed out onto the floor. Turning around, he saw that he was cut off from his team, the door having closed and locked behind him. Blaine continued up the incline, and a brute rounded the bend in the hallway and fired at Blaine. He blocked its shots with his shield, overcharged the plasma pistol, and fired it at the brute. It hit it full in the chest, and it's torso melted, spilling what was left of the brutes internal organs onto the floor, and they slowly slid down the incline. He went through the door, meeting two jackals, which he dispatched with a stick of dynamite. He looked around, and realized it was the armory. He went over to a table where engineers were building a new weapon. It seemed to be a rifle. When it was done, he took it from the engineers. It was white, and was too big to dual-wield. He tested it out. It had an amazing rate of fire. He dropped his plasma pistol for the new rifle. He took it and left the armory.

Burn looked around and realized that Blaine was cut off from the rest of the group. He knew he could handle himself, the resistance on the ship was pathetic. As they turned the next corner, they saw two brutes coming their way. Suddenly the trailing brute collapsed as a barrage of white plasma vaporized the back of his head. Behind the brute, at the end of the hall Blaine was holding a strange plasma rifle. The remaining brute berserked, and charged straight at Blaine. Blaine sidestepped and tripped the brute as it went by. "Hold fire!" Blaine said to the rest of the strike team. "Get up." He said to the brute. It got up and threw a punch. Blaine jumped back so his back was against the wall. The brute snarled and threw another punch at Blaine's head. He moved his head and the brute's fist slammed against the wall, dislocating three fingers. Ignoring the pain, it threw another punch. Blaine sidestepped, twisted the brutes arm behind its back, and kneed it up as hard as he could. Everyone heard a pop and Burn realized its arm was dislocated. Having had his fun with the brute, Blaine slit its throat with his combat knife, leaving the brute to gasp out its last breaths in a pool of its own blood. "Impressive." Burn said. "Brutes may be strong, but they are incredibly incompetent." Blaine replied. They set the Shiva nuke in the fusion reactor for half an hour, then made their way back to the hangar. In it there were ten brutes and ten jackals. A huge firefight erupted. A brute berserked and charged at a hunter. Brutes are strong, but no match for hunters. The hunter smashed it with its shield, sending its broken body across the room. A gray elite, cornered, stuck two plasma grenades to itself, activated two frag grenades, and tackled a brute honor guard. The explosion killed five jackals and one brute, plus the honor guard and elite. Blaine mowed down three jackals with his new rifle, then used his shotgun and blew a couple brute faces off, littering the floor with skull fragments and brain tissue. The ODST sent a rocket streaking into a group, killing three brutes and the last two jackals. Burn threw a plasma grenade into a brute's mouth, which ironically, was open laughing. As for the last brute… you can do the math. They got out with only one elite lost, and one injured. They got in the phantom, watched the Shiva fireworks, and then went to earth's main base. When they got to the base, there was a troop of brutes and jackals outside. They used the phantom to mow them down like some sick nine-year-old with a magnifying glass and an ant farm.
They landed and Burn and Blaine struck out for the base. On the way they went over a small rickety bridge. As they neared the end, a jackal sniper shot the rope supports on it, and it collapsed, taking a bunch of rock and dirt with it. Blaine managed to jump to safety, but Burn fell with the bridge. "Damn!" Blaine exclaimed. He took a plasma grenade and hurled it across the expanse, and it latched onto the jackal. It panicked and jumped into the expanse. It detonated in midair and pieces of jackal plummeted down the gorge. Blaine looked down the gorge. He didn't see Burn. He sighed and headed for the base to report their new allies to Admiral Hood.
At the bottom of the gorge, Burn's hand, sticking out of the rubble, clenched into a fist.



Alliance: Chapter 4
Date: 7 November 2005, 12:56 am

"Major Blaine White. It's a pleasure." Said Lieutenant Barker. "Hello lieutenant. I'm sorry but I need to speak with Admiral Hood immediately." Said Blaine. "Very well." He replied. "Follow me." They went into a room that had a screen in the back. They contacted Admiral Hood. "What can I do for you Major?" he asked. Blaine explained. "Sir. The covenant was just turned upside down. I need to be brief. There is currently a civil war going on in the Covenant, and the elites, grunts, and hunters have all broken off of the Covenant. They are no longer enemies." "I was wondering why some of the ships that came to earth were firing on each other. I'll send aid to those ships." Hood replied. "Alright, I'm coming to-" Blaine was interrupted by a member of the staff. "Brutes! In quad two! They just got in!" he shrieked. Blaine grabbed his shotgun and rifle and went into the area. When he reached the area, it was littered with eviscerated corpses of brutes. Blood was every where. Floors. Walls. Even splotches were on the ceiling. And in the center of it all… stood an elite. Wearing orange and red armor, and holding an energy sword. "Burn! I thought you were dead. Apparently not." "Did you kill that sniper that almost killed us?" Burn asked. "Yes, I tagged him with a grenade." "Good." Burn replied. Then Blaine received a radio transmission alerting him of nearby ground forces. "I'll be right back." Said Blaine. When he returned he had his new rifle, a battle rifle and his personal modified shotgun. He gave the rifle to Burn and they headed to the phantom. They, two more elites and the three good marines under Blaine went to the area. It was a mountain range. They arrived at the area and decided to split into two teams. Burn, an elite, and the ODST, Carlos Janson made up one team, and Blaine, an elite, and Corporals Jacobs and Watson made up the other team. They split up and began to search the mountainside. As they were traversing the rocky cliffs, a beam rifle shot streaked through the air. "Jacobs. Take him out." Said Blaine. Not seconds after the order he heard a loud crack and he watched as a jackal toppled off of a cliff, a bullet hole through its head. As they continued there was a small caldera, and in the center there was a hovering phantom, and two brutes, five jackals, and five buggers came out of it. "Easy as pie." Muttered Blaine. He had both teams surround the group in pairs, and signaled for everyone to get a grenade ready. He dropped his hand and seven grenades arced through the air, killing every enemy in a fiery explosion of smoking limbs and charred appendages. They then took the phantom and headed into space…
They arrived in Blaine's personal ship after rounding up troops. It was a small ship, but it could accommodate 150 persons, plus the captain. They aided the allied UNSC ships and ex-covenant ships with the defense of earth. They eventually drove the covenant fleet off. Afterward, since there was little to do, they all went to the rec. wing of the ship to occupy themselves. One elite went over to the ODST, Carlos and asked, "Why is your armor different than everyone else's?" "I am an ODST. We get different armor." He said. "STD did you say?" the elite asked. The whole human group burst out laughing. "No, its ODST. Say, do you have a wife?" he asked the elite. "Wife?" the elite said apparently not recognizing the term. "Soulmate." He said. "Ah, yes in fact I do. He is-" "He?" Carlos asked. "Yes. We are the females of our race. The males are the engineers that run our ships." "Wow." Carlos said. "We know surprisingly little about your race." Blaine and Burn were having a conversation as well. "I noticed that way back when we were rescuing my comrades you demonstrated some amazing skills. You also have white hair. Why?" Burn asked. Blaine replied, "Do you know about that super soldier they call a Spartan? You called him a demon." "Yes." Replied Burn. "Well he is biologically engineered to be so effective. I am also biologically engineered. But I altered my DNA using ultra-controlled gamma radiation. I have a very limited regenerative ability, as well as enhanced vision. I also received extra muscle tissue implanted in my legs and arms, enhancing my strength. The white hair is a side effect of the altered DNA. I am a scientist. I did all this on my own, after my wife died at Sigma Octanus. That's when I dedicated myself to the destruction of the Covenant." Then Blaine received a radio transmission from Admiral Hood asking him to check out a UNSC ship that wasn't responding their calls. They went to investigate. When they got on board something was wrong. There was utter silence. No one was there to greet them. As they entered the first hall it too was empty, save a single green splotch on the floor. The air smelled as well. They heard an unearthly screech and suddenly hundreds of infection forms and dozens of combat forms poured into the hallway. Blaine and his squad opened fire, mowing them down like grass. But there were too many. The flood was just flooding the hallway. "Pull back!" Blaine yelled. As they retreated and sealed the door, Blaine said, "I'll be back." He felt a sense of de ja vu, but didn't know why. They got in their ship, and Blaine went to the radio and said, " Major Blaine White to cryo bay, thaw out 089."



Alliance: chapter 5
Date: 10 November 2005, 2:59 am

"Major Blaine White to cryo bay, let's thaw out 089." "Yes sir." The cryo technician replied. He punched data and commands into a computer console and watched as the cryo tube opened… and out stepped a Spartan. "Hello eighty nine." Blaine said, having arrived. The Spartan merely snapped a quick salute in response. Spartan zero eight nine was clad in brown and tan armor, with a black hawk backed by two white swords emblem on his back and shoulders. "We need to destroy this ship, it's infested with the flood. We need help. Come with me." Blaine said. As they left the room Blaine called Burn on the radio and told him to round up his good troops, and call in the marines, and head for the armory. When everyone arrived he made an announcement. "People. We are dealing with the flood now, so get shotguns, anything fully automatic, and explosives." He let Burn keep the plasma rifle he had given him since he was the only one who knew how to recharge it. He grabbed his own modified shotgun, some dynamite and a CY-9 Cobra assault rifle. It was pretty much a battle rifle with no scope, fully automatic, and had a laser pointer. Once everyone grabbed weapons, they formulated a plan. They needed to make their way to the fusion reactor room, set a nuclear warhead, and get out. Simple. But words are easier than action. They all ventured into the ship. At first it was just some infection forms and the occasional combat form, but their numbers began to pick up. Soon they were unable to advance, enemies so thick that they were falling like rain. Eventually, after an hour of nonstop combat, and loss of a third of their force, they beat back the flood. They were bewildered, wondering why they had retreated. Something was wrong. They ventured forth, encountering no resistance. They entered the fusion reactor room, and set the warhead for a half-hour. As they returned to the ship, the flood poured into the hangar. "Damn! Quickly, get on board!" Blaine yelled. But suddenly the flood stopped. Two hulking figures lumbered through the masses of flood. Juggernauts. Blaine merely smiled and ordered everyone back onto the ship. He dropped a bag of dynamite and an assortment of grenades, lit a stick of dynamite and tossed it on top of the bag. "Enjoy." He said as he jumped onto the phantom. As they left they saw the enormous explosion of the combined nuclear warhead and fusion reactors of the ship. As they watched Blaine reminisced about how it reminded him of the sunsets he used to watch with his wife… he snapped back to reality. She was dead now. She died during childbirth from complications. He, being too financially and emotionally drained could not support a child, and put her up for adoption. He then spent a year, in extreme anguish, drinking and wandering aimlessly. Then he realized that he needed to get over it, and move on. He had hardened. He decided that nothing was worth that kind of pain, so no one got too close anymore. Then he joined the army. That was fifteen years ago. Seven years ago he was granted a year pass. That's when he raised money for his science experiment, and carried it out. Then his memories strayed to his wife, his home on Reach… the majestic rolling hills and amazing sunsets. A radio transmission disturbed his thoughts. It was Hood, and he was requested on the Cairo. He took a phantom to the station, and an official greeted him in the bay. "You're wanted in room 32-Y she said. He went to the room and was greeted by Hood and an ONI official. There was nothing marking him as ONI, but he could tell by the black, plain outfit, and he himself had worked with ONI for three years of his career. "Hello Major." Said Hood. "I understand that something called the flood was on board the ship, and you had to destroy it?" "Yes." Blaine replied. Normally he would be surprised at how quickly he learned that info, but there was ONI official there. They knew everything. He asked the man his name. "I'm afraid that that is unavailable." He said. "Right. You're ONI. You don't exist." Blaine replied. The ONI official addressed him again. " A man named Colonel Wolff has a bonus for you, for your services to ONI." Blaine smiled. It wasn't a bonus. Colonel Wolff was a good friend of his. The ONI official handed him a card saying simply, "the den." Blaine knew where that was, and took his phantom to the location, in the middle of the Sahara desert. He entered after saying a password that was more akin to an oral essay. He was patted down a half dozen times, and finally entered a room. Wolff was sitting at a table in the center. Blaine asked him, "What is this "bonus"?" he asked. "Well, I'll give you a hint. It has to do with genetics, cloning, and your wife." He said. "You cloned my wife?" Blaine asked. He wasn't ecstatic yet; there was always a catch with ONI. "Not exactly. Since exact clones don't usually live past ten, we, like you, used gamma radiation to slightly alter it, then we created the embryo. We managed to tweak her aging process, so she's technically fourteen, but looks twenty-three. But still, she'll live a normal life span." "What's the catch?" Blaine asked in a depressed tone. "Always the cold hard pessimist. That's what she saw in you. Maturity, realization of reality." Wolff said. "Well?" Blaine said. " There was no way to give her back her old mind and memory, so she has no clue who you are. Oh, Blaine… here she comes." She entered. Blaine was suddenly staring at the gorgeous face of his wife. Dark red-brown hair, brilliant green eyes, a deep tan… it seemed so familiar. "Excuse me." She said as she brushed by him like a complete stranger. For the first time in so many years, he was phased. Shocked. The woman he married, suddenly after fifteen years of her being dead, she was back, now a stranger. He suddenly felt clueless, helpless. "I'm sorry." Wolff said sympathetically. "Thank you Zach. I really appreciate what you've done." He said. Then he collected himself, resigning himself to the truth, and left the same old cold, hard man he had become over the years.





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