Post by Danny on Jul 5, 2010 16:27:14 GMT -5
Eden.
Supreme Commander John Sanderson stood at the front of a lecture theatre with Master Chief Petty Officer Chandler 056 standing at attention by his side. In front of them were rows of seats, filled with a very small number Sangheili and Human warriors. The Sangheili were situated at the front, with the Humans sitting in the back, higher elevated rows.
“Welcome,” Sanderson began, “You have all been called upon to serve, whether it be for your race, your family, your way of life, or revenge,” Sanderson moved away from Chandler and approached the front row of Elites, “We are all here, united under a single banner once more, to again counter a common foe,”
“I am of course talking the Rifters, the ancient race of Forerunner rejects that stabbed Humanity in the back and destroyed our home,” he said in quick succession, then taking in a breath and calming himself, “We have all fought them at one point, and we have all lost,”
“Not this time,”
Sanderson gave the crowd a grin, and activated a monitor behind him, displaying an image of the Universe, “After the sudden disappearance of the Rifters two years ago, we began looking for them, scattering probes throughout the ‘Verse,”
He shook his head, “We found nothing, nothing at all in those two years. They seemed to have vanished completely, just as mysteriously as they arrived,” he turned and looked to the screen, “But we knew they wouldn't give up their number one spot, and so we didn’t give up,” he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small controller, he pointed it at the screen and clicked, “It paid off, we found them one month ago, here,”
The image then zoomed in on a system on the other side of the galaxy. The image wasn’t detailed, just masses of red and orange blimps, “These are the initial findings, simply thermal scans of the area. As you can see, massive and many heat signatures,”
He clicked again.
“We sent a second probe, seeing as though our first wasn’t detected, to get a more detailed look,” the thermal blimps were then replaced with actual and focused images of a Rifter fleet, and what a appeared to be a space station.
“They have a large amount of ships, concentrated in a small area, mainly around this station, which is more than likely armed to the teeth,” he explained, “Further scans revealed holes in their defences, they’re not expecting an attack, so they’ve gotten sloppy,”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he turned and faced the crowd, “I intend to take full advantage of this opportunity,” he stepped forward again, “We will strike with everything we have. Using the element of surprise, we will tear their fleet to shreds and we will show no mercy,”
The Elites in the first few rows growled approvingly, while the Humans cheered and stomped their feet in an uproar.
Sanderson smirked and waited for them to calm down, but as they did, the smirk quickly left his face as he remembered the final detail, and the reason why these Humans and Sangheili were here.
“There is... one last thing,” Sanderson muttered, quickly silencing the crowd “After gathering this intel, we chose not to act upon it until our forces were much, much stronger. So we continued gathering information to make our plan of attack bullet proof... while doing so, we found something else,”
Sanderson no longer grinned, he stared into the crowd with a stern and worried look, “The reason why we changed our minds, the reason why you are here, the reason why we are attacking now, is because of this,” he clicked one final time. The image pixelated and then focused in on one last image. As each bit of detail returned to the image, the eyes of the crowd widened.
A Halo.
Everyone then realised how dire this mission was, and began rambling amongst themselves. Some in the crowd have had the displeasure of being on one of these Rings, some even two. Those, merely sighed.
“You understand?” yelled Sanderson over the crowd, “You know? These Rifters are Forerunner, they have complete and total control of that Halo,”
Chandler closed his eyes, he never laid feet or eyes on one of the Halos. From what he heard, he was glad he never did. He was in disbelief that he was soon about to. Lachlan and Charlie both cursed at the monitor, they both being involved with Installation 05. Anau shifted nervously in his seat and took Zarra’s hand; he had fought on Installation 04 with Zarra, against the Humans, and against the Flood.
The Flood!
“What of the parasite!?” an apprehensive Elite called, beating Anau to it.
“For now, we’re calling this Halo ‘Installation X’, we don’t know anything about it, besides it’s terrain looking like snow,” Sanderson said, then looking to the panicked Elite, “We don’t know if there’s Flood, if there is, they have done a good job at containing it,”
Sanderson looked back at his Spartan protégé; he stood there, tall and motionless. As always.
“This will be a three part attack,” he began again, attempting to get minds off the Halo, “Ship Masters, Captains and Commanders, you will lead a massive, full frontal assault on the Rifter fleet and Station. Warriors, Spartans, Marines, ODST’s, you will be immediately sent to ground, to Halo’s control centre. You mission is simple, take the control room at any cost to prevent its activation. When their fleet is in ruins, and Halo is ours; we destroy it.” The crowd nodded and again began muttering amongst themselves.
“You will all be briefed in more detail when you’re aboard your respective crafts. Arm up, we’re going back to war.”
Supreme Commander John Sanderson stood at the front of a lecture theatre with Master Chief Petty Officer Chandler 056 standing at attention by his side. In front of them were rows of seats, filled with a very small number Sangheili and Human warriors. The Sangheili were situated at the front, with the Humans sitting in the back, higher elevated rows.
“Welcome,” Sanderson began, “You have all been called upon to serve, whether it be for your race, your family, your way of life, or revenge,” Sanderson moved away from Chandler and approached the front row of Elites, “We are all here, united under a single banner once more, to again counter a common foe,”
“I am of course talking the Rifters, the ancient race of Forerunner rejects that stabbed Humanity in the back and destroyed our home,” he said in quick succession, then taking in a breath and calming himself, “We have all fought them at one point, and we have all lost,”
“Not this time,”
Sanderson gave the crowd a grin, and activated a monitor behind him, displaying an image of the Universe, “After the sudden disappearance of the Rifters two years ago, we began looking for them, scattering probes throughout the ‘Verse,”
He shook his head, “We found nothing, nothing at all in those two years. They seemed to have vanished completely, just as mysteriously as they arrived,” he turned and looked to the screen, “But we knew they wouldn't give up their number one spot, and so we didn’t give up,” he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small controller, he pointed it at the screen and clicked, “It paid off, we found them one month ago, here,”
The image then zoomed in on a system on the other side of the galaxy. The image wasn’t detailed, just masses of red and orange blimps, “These are the initial findings, simply thermal scans of the area. As you can see, massive and many heat signatures,”
He clicked again.
“We sent a second probe, seeing as though our first wasn’t detected, to get a more detailed look,” the thermal blimps were then replaced with actual and focused images of a Rifter fleet, and what a appeared to be a space station.
“They have a large amount of ships, concentrated in a small area, mainly around this station, which is more than likely armed to the teeth,” he explained, “Further scans revealed holes in their defences, they’re not expecting an attack, so they’ve gotten sloppy,”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he turned and faced the crowd, “I intend to take full advantage of this opportunity,” he stepped forward again, “We will strike with everything we have. Using the element of surprise, we will tear their fleet to shreds and we will show no mercy,”
The Elites in the first few rows growled approvingly, while the Humans cheered and stomped their feet in an uproar.
Sanderson smirked and waited for them to calm down, but as they did, the smirk quickly left his face as he remembered the final detail, and the reason why these Humans and Sangheili were here.
“There is... one last thing,” Sanderson muttered, quickly silencing the crowd “After gathering this intel, we chose not to act upon it until our forces were much, much stronger. So we continued gathering information to make our plan of attack bullet proof... while doing so, we found something else,”
Sanderson no longer grinned, he stared into the crowd with a stern and worried look, “The reason why we changed our minds, the reason why you are here, the reason why we are attacking now, is because of this,” he clicked one final time. The image pixelated and then focused in on one last image. As each bit of detail returned to the image, the eyes of the crowd widened.
A Halo.
Everyone then realised how dire this mission was, and began rambling amongst themselves. Some in the crowd have had the displeasure of being on one of these Rings, some even two. Those, merely sighed.
“You understand?” yelled Sanderson over the crowd, “You know? These Rifters are Forerunner, they have complete and total control of that Halo,”
Chandler closed his eyes, he never laid feet or eyes on one of the Halos. From what he heard, he was glad he never did. He was in disbelief that he was soon about to. Lachlan and Charlie both cursed at the monitor, they both being involved with Installation 05. Anau shifted nervously in his seat and took Zarra’s hand; he had fought on Installation 04 with Zarra, against the Humans, and against the Flood.
The Flood!
“What of the parasite!?” an apprehensive Elite called, beating Anau to it.
“For now, we’re calling this Halo ‘Installation X’, we don’t know anything about it, besides it’s terrain looking like snow,” Sanderson said, then looking to the panicked Elite, “We don’t know if there’s Flood, if there is, they have done a good job at containing it,”
Sanderson looked back at his Spartan protégé; he stood there, tall and motionless. As always.
“This will be a three part attack,” he began again, attempting to get minds off the Halo, “Ship Masters, Captains and Commanders, you will lead a massive, full frontal assault on the Rifter fleet and Station. Warriors, Spartans, Marines, ODST’s, you will be immediately sent to ground, to Halo’s control centre. You mission is simple, take the control room at any cost to prevent its activation. When their fleet is in ruins, and Halo is ours; we destroy it.” The crowd nodded and again began muttering amongst themselves.
“You will all be briefed in more detail when you’re aboard your respective crafts. Arm up, we’re going back to war.”