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Halo 2: Uprising - Prologue
Posted By: Mad Max
Date: 20 December 2007, 8:28 pm
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Author's Note: This is a novelization of Halo 2. I haven't written stories in a long time, and it was something I used to do. What I've attempted to do is re-create Halo 2 in novel form, with the exact dialogue and most situations found within the game. At the same time, I hope to elaborate on certain events in the game that are talked about, but never shown in cutscenes. Without further ado, I present my story.
Prologue
September 23, 2552
Shortly after the destruction of Alpha Halo
Space stretched across the length of the system, while stars glittered against the horizontal galatic abyss. Where only a few minutes ago a tremendous shockwave reverberated throughout the system; there was now an eerie silence. The system contained an installation, shrouded in secrecy for milinea, until just recently. Now the once-great ring is nothing more than shattered remnants of its former self.
Installation 04 had detonated via the destabilization of the Pillar of Autumn's engine core. This explosion had sent large chunks of the ring into space, with bits of molten metal, water, and granite burning up in the atmosphere of the ring's moon, Basis. Some of these chunks had penetrated nearby Covenant vessels, destroying two frigates and mortally wounding a destroyer and one of the two flagships hovering in-system.
All but one of the remaining undamaged ships had entered Slipspace to transition to their homeworld. The undamaged flagship, Ascendant Justice, stayed behind for further assessment of the Halo's aftermath.
A distinct, rhythmic humming is lost in the vastness of space. However, upon closer examination, a blue star moved through the expanse, chittering to itself and exclaiming how much of a genius it is.
343 Guilty Spark had sensed that the construct was about to expire, and had subsequently extracted from what the Reclaimer had called the Pillar of Autumn. Now in space, Guilty Spark tapped into the aliens' COM networks and soaked up the information. It floated past the debris field of one of the Covenant frigates, now drifting lazily and forever dead in space. The Monitor paused to look at a dead Elite with a long piece of metal punched through its abdomen, twisting around upside down.
"Oh, hello," it chirped, and started drifting away from the debris field.
It continued on for another fifteen minutes toward the gas giant Threshold. Guilty Spark, being the Monitor of the Installation and its surrounding facilities, needed to check up on the gas mine suspended within the atmosphere of Threshold, as it had been doing for the last 100,000 years.
As it neared the structure, a sonic boom was heard off in the distance behind it. Spark swiveled about, and increased the magnification on its sensors to the max. It watched intently as a Pelican dropship rocketed off the dark side of Basis, and sped towards the Ascendant Justice. At the same time, the ships that had fled from the system suddenly reappeared, dropping out of Slipspace to come to the flagship's side. Then the thrusters on another, slightly larger dropship burned in the darkness and slowly accelerated towards the Covenant vessel.
The Reclaimer perhaps? The Monitor bobbed upward once, the equivalent of a shrug, and sputtered back toward the hovering gas mine.
It neared one of the massive structures and entered a door. Spark flew through the halls and massive rooms, before finally reaching the mine's control center.
The control center was huge, with a ramp on the left and right sides. The floor sloped down a few inches around the center, with the two "mouths" of each ramp flanking the sides of the slopped section of floor, which was shaped like a square. At the far side of the room was another door that led to an elevator which then led to an emergency escape route. The route had never been used, because the Forerunners died off thousands of years before. But Spark felt as though that, for some unknown reason, this long silence would soon be broken. There were two upper levels, and the third was where Spark needed to go.
The Monitor hummed with harmony to the faint sounds of machinery as it fluttered up through the center of the room to the top floor.
As it neared the panels at the back of the room, it absorbed the latest updates on the status of the gasmine. It paused when it got to one of the panels, its eye pulsing as it tried to comprehend the latest report:
Warning! Anomalous intruders encountered at 0500 hours, on the nineteeth day of the nineth month in the two-thousand-five hundred-fifty-second year. Best advise to start immediate containment protocol one hundred eleven. Thermal signatures are--
The report cut off mysteriously. Guilty Spark was not used to such anomalies. Then again, nothing had gone right in the past few days it seemed. Its Sentinels were just doing their jobs, when human interlopers and an xenophobic race of aliens had come tampering with his Installation. Pretty soon, the Flood had been let lose, and everything went to hell after that.
As it contemplated the report, the Monitor didn't hear the sound of footfalls from behind. It felt a loud crack as the butt of a metallic object crashed down on top of its head. The Monitor let out a surprised yelp, and fell to the floor.
"Stop! By the gods, Orslo, what are you doing?!" barked an authoritative voice.
From the Monitor's perspective, all it saw were a couple of hooves, then it saw one of the Covenant aliens approach from behind the set of hooves.
"Sesa, I apologize. I thought--" The one named Orslo was backhanded across its helmet.
"You fool!" the one named Sesa said. "Don't you realize that this is the Oracle?! The mouthpiece of the Forerunners!"
"What on earth is going on here!" the Monitor exclaimed, as it recovered its senses and floated back into the air. "Who might you be?"
The two Elites, as well as the gaggle of Grunts that suddenly appeared, dropped to one knee. "Oh great Oracle, I am Sesa 'Refumee of the Covenant, and this is my second-in-command Orslo 'Baumee." He raised his right hand in the direction of Orslo. "We have come to seek the secrets of the Ancient Ones. We have finally found you!"
343 Guilty Spark nodded. Its biometric scan of this Elite seemed to match what he claimed. "I see." It fluttered back and forth, what some call pacing, to think of what to say. "How did you get past my Sentinel defenses?"
Sesa looked up at the Oracle. "Why, we shot them of course." He held up his Plasma Rifle to show it.
"So it would seem. Why have you and your race come to this Installation?" This was a question that 343 Guilty Spark wanted an answer to, and it was very excited to hear it.
"Holy Oracle," Sesa replied, "my brothers and I, as well as these filthy lesser kinds, have come seeking the power of the Ancient Ones. We are on the Great Journey, and you are one of the things that we seek. We are an artifcat retrieval team attached to the Fleet of Particular Justice, in search of Forerunner technology. We landed here four days ago, and have been here ever since.
"During that time, we were attacked by your Sentinel guards. Might I ask, why were they impeding our progress?"
A question answered with a question. Was this Elite playing games or being geniune? "These Sentinels are guarding this facility, as they do on the Installation until just recently..." Its voice trailed off, then picked back up. "The Reclaimer that was supposed to activate the Installation purposefully failed and as a result, he blew it up!"
Orslo didn't like what the Oracle had just said. "Hold on," he said. "Activating the Sacred Ring? Why would it need to be activated?"
Sesa pointed his Plasma Rifle at the Oracle. "What are you saying?"
"What I'm saying," 343 Guilty Spark replied, slightly annoyed, "is that Installation 04 was built by the Forerunners to effectively purge any Flood infestation that may occur. All sentient life in the galaxy died as a result of the activation of the installation."
The words hit home to Orslo, Sesa, and the squadron of Grunts. Rage bubbled inside of Sesa's gut. Everything the Prophets told his brothers were lies? Was the Great Journey false? It seemed to be so, because what the Oracle just told them didn't parallel with what the Prophets had said, and what the Oracle says is holy writ.
Sesa activated his COM: "Solso, retrieve as many Banshees and secure as many Plasma cannons as possible and deploy them around the structures. I have found the Oracle, and appearently the Prophets have lied to us, blinded us, and deceived us."
Solso replied: "As you command, Sesa. I'll get on it as soon as possible. Those Prophets will pay with their blood. Solso out."
The line went dead. Sesa knew there would be no turning back, but if there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was betrayal. And he was going to take the fight to the Prophets.
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