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12/12/2004 8:56:48 AM
8794
Halo 2/3 Book Posted, Pages 342-345. Page 351: Sequel Revealed
September 9, 2006- Halo: The Ark is officially available online for everyone to read. There will be several websites hosting them, and each additional one will be added to this list here. The Ark is also in this thread, from pages 342-345. Feel free to read them and post in this thread.
The cover/concept art is also available for anyone who wants to see it. Just follow these links:
[url=http://img370.imageshack.us/my.php?image=halocoverartfromjoeslayergk8.png]Cover art by JoeSlayer[/url]
[url=http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sb2copygi6tc1.jpg]Back cover art by JoeSlayer[/url]
[url=http://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dandonahueconceptartvn0.png]Concept cover art by Dan Donahue[/url]
[url=http://img224.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bookcoveroh0.jpg]Concept art by Paul[/url]
[u]Here is the list of websites hosting Halo: The Ark[/u]
[url=http://game-spectrum.com/news/entertainment/halo_the_ark.html]Game Spectrum[/url]
Nov 17th, 2005- by now, there are 30 chapters of the book posted. if you dont want to look through this entire thread for them, click the link in my signature, it will take you to my official site, where all the chapters are posted.
May 17, 2006- Work on the book has come to a halt as all editing (professional) has been done. There is work currently being done to get The Ark published, hopefully by TOR. Any questions about the book can be asked here, and i will answer them as promptly as possible. This is not an official bungie project.
Click [url=http://www.archive.org/download/The_Ark/theark.pdf]Here[ /url] to download a pdf version of it. Actually, right click and save, otherwise it won't work.
The following material is the original post from way back when, so if you're looking for the more recent stuff (that has been modified from reading the beginning works), please visit my website, which is in my signature, or click the link above to download a pdf version of it. Please do not ask for the last chapters, as i will not send them to you. Any and all news will be posted whenever it comes up, and i will say so in the subject heading, with the appropriate page number and date. Chapters are generally posted weekly, though i discuss each chapter's release date beforehand so confusion does not ensue.
If anyone knows anything about the Halo 2 book, or what comes after it, let me know. Cause if nothing's happening with it, im gonna write it. Here's the prelude to halo 3(?)...
Prologue
Ninth Age of Reclamation/First age of Rebirth
Yielding Righteousness/ Current Flagship
The doors opened as the Arbiter walked into the Grand Chamber, seeing rows of his brethren. His Sangheili. They all uniformly bowed down on one knee, their heads to facing the ground. The Arbiter turned to his Spec-ops captain, now the general of the armies, and said, “You never told me there would be this many.”
“I thought you would like being surprised, Arbiter.” He showed a grin, at least as best a Sangheili could.
They started walking through the main aisle, with an honor guard walking behind them as protection. The Arbiter felt that the presence of the honor guards was not necessary, but understood the honor they must feel to be here, especially now. Walking past each new row allowed all to stand in that row, which alerted the Arbiter of some discrepancy. He turned his head left, and saw several rows of Lekgolo, their massive bodies gracefully rising as he passed. And further ahead, even more rows were filled with the small Unggoy, who fidgeted even while trying to keep their composer. And they all were bowing.
He looked back at the Lekgolo, shocked at the amount of them in one room. He had never seen so many, and they could easily overpower the entire ship if they wanted to, but they also didn’t carry their normal weaponry, which attached directly to their arms. The Arbiter forced himself to look away so not to draw attention to himself in any negative aspect, for it could ruin his purpose here today.
They climbed the ramp up to the stage, where the honor guard behind them went to the right side of him, and to the left he saw another waiting for his arrival. The Arbiter went to the front of the stage, and the Captain/General stayed behind several steps. He looked upon the crowd, understanding that the future may rest upon their shoulders.
The chamber had fallen dead silent now, and the Arbiter scanned the room once more. He stood tall and came to the very edge of the stage. “As you all know, I am the Arbiter. I have been chosen for this… this honor, by our previous leaders. However, there may be those among you who believe that their word is heresy, regardless of when it was said. And because of my rank, my position, I will become the leader of our group, our new covenant. If anyone disagrees with my appointment as the Arbiter, speak now.”
The chamber stayed noiseless, but faces animated and expressions came to color. The Arbiter looked back to his Captain/General, who nodded to him. Suddenly, one Sangheili stepped out of his row, and yelled, “Long live the Arbiter!” As the Arbiter turned back to his audience, he found that he was deafened by the cheering of his name. A wave of relief struck him, and he held his hands to show silence was required. Moments later, it was so.
“You all honor me with this privilege, yet I must postpone our celebration for another time. This meeting is one of urgency, where three important things must be discussed. The first of which being the creating of a new Grand Council. After this meeting, all not stationed upon the Yielding Righteousness are to return to their home planets to decide on the council members.”
“Our next goal will be to secure as many Huragok as possible. They are a necessity on every ship, world, and army. If we can take many away from the Prophets, it will give us a strategic advantage against them. They will undoubtedly be attempting the same, but we cannot allow them to take any Huragok, or the upper hand will be theirs. Do not forget their usefulness, even in the heat of battle.”
The Arbiter sighed, and looked up at the lights, then directly into the holocron monitor, which was projecting his face among countless worlds. “The final article is something that has come into my thoughts several times during these past few days, something I would like express to you. The Prophets have always asked each race to join the covenant, or even allow them honorable submission, but not the Humans. These Humans are a strange race, yet nothing about them is notable in any sense with the exception to the demon. Regardless, it makes no sense for the Prophets to ‘fear’ these Humans. But I understand why they do. I have fought and killed them, as well as fought beside them as allies.” Whispers appeared throughout the room, and the Arbiter raised his voice to overrun them.
“Wait!”, he yelled, and the chamber’s only sound was the Arbiter’s echoing voice. “Through my experience with these Humans, they fight with the same honor we would, use clever tactics as we do, and will die for victory if necessary. And now that we are not at the prophet’s side to protect them, they have much to fear of the Humans!”
Cheers wailed throughout the room, and a group of Unggoy began jumping up and clapping. The Arbiter allowed the crowd to settle down by themselves before speaking again. “From now on, if you should see a Jiralhanae, Yanme, Kig-yar, or a Prophet, you are to conquer them, and show them who truly is strong.” He smiled as best a Sangheili could. “Even more so for the Kig-yar, if you know what I mean.” Laughter broke out, especially through the rows of Unggoy.
The Arbiter walked off the stage, followed closely by both honor guards and his Captain/General. Suddenly the laughter turned to applause, as the Unggoy yelled, and the Lekgolo and Sangheili bowed again to one knee. The Unggoy followed suit quickly. With each passed row, the rising covenant would chant “Long live the Arbiter!”
The Captain/General whispered gently to the Arbiter as they walked down the aisle, “ It would seen that you left a good impression with the covenant.”
“No, we are not the Covenant anymore. We are the Preeminent."
If you guys like this, let me know, I have about 10 more pages written, in no partucular order, and can post them if anyone wants to read them.
[Edited on 12/17/2006]
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OK EVERYBODY, HERE'S THE NEW CHAPTER! don't ask about the chapter number, im not quite sure myself. just read and enjoy. Chapter 2(?) 0800, September 16, 2552 (Military Calendar) Halo, Unknown Ring number Twisting the old MA-3 in her hand, Kelly looked over the old and basically useless semi-automatic weapon. It was, however, much more powerful than the pistol that was aboard the Chiroptera-class cruiser, the Black Pearl, which neither she nor Einstein could identify. After testing it on her own shield systems, she knew that if any Covenant landed on Halo, they would have to laugh so hard that they’d drop dead. She laughed at the though, knowing how truly pathetic such a situation would be. Dr. Halsey, still aboard the Black Pearl, had keyed Kelly’s radio. “ETA two minutes. The Pelican will drop you off at the first checkpoint I’ve marked for you. Unfortunately, it will take time to map out the entire ring quickly due to its size. I’ll use the Black Pearl to map out as much as I can, and Einstein will pilot the Pelican and do the same. Before you left the Black Pearl, Einstein detected a large underground region with many passageways, and that’s where you’ll be dropped off. Search the underground and report anything significant to me. We don’t know exactly how far down it goes, but I estimate about half a mile. So keep your eyes open.” “And…what exactly am I looking for?” “Don’t worry”, she replied with a hint of amusement. “When you see it, you’ll know.” “Understood”, Kelly grumbled. She was very upset with Dr. Halsey, yet still followed all of her orders, regardless of the fact that she held no military status. But all Spartans considered her an authority, and followed all directions given by her. This, however, was almost crossing the line. Ever since they entered the system, the supposed mission they had, which was important enough for Dr. Halsey to take her while she was unconscious, steal the pirate leader’s ship, and force her to leave her team when they needed her the most, was never told to Kelly. Despite this, she still trusted Dr. Halsey, but that trust was waning with every new plan and idea implemented by the good doctor. “Remember, if you see anything out of the ordinary, comm. me immediately. Halsey out.” A mild male voice came through the Pelican’s speakers and into her armors receivers. “Dust off in five.” The hatch on the Pelican’s back opened and Kelly hopped out, landing on the ring-world with no recoil or bounce. She took in the scenery around her, all of it strange and foreign. Anything out of the ordinary, she thought questionably. How about this ring? The programmed Nav Point presented itself on her HUD as she slung the MA-3 over her shoulder, and began running to it. She had a lot of land to cover, and didn’t care to waste any time. Slowing down from 50 kilometers per hour, Kelly took in the large room, and would have been shocked by the size if she had never seen one before. It was dark, barely lit, yet all was visible enough for her. Small rectangular pillars stood out of the ground, but only on the lower ground on the sides of the walkway she stood on. Standing at the mouth of the room, she began to walk towards the center. Light came out of the gaping hole she began to see as she neared the middle of the room, and reaching the edge, she could see the fall was too far for her to survive. The other side was at least 60 meters away, and two strangely shaped pillars protruded from the cliff. Looking over the edge again, tow identical pillars were placed opposite the original two. They were five meters long, and if she jumped from one to the other, she had a much greater chance to make it, although it was still too far. Walking back onto the darkened path, a dim light to her left brightened and dimmed. Jogging over to the story-high light, an inclined path presented itself, and she went up and found an illuminated control pad with only a pentagonal figure on it. What the hell, she thought, knowing it was the only way across, and somewhat curious. Upon pushing it, the four pillars extended closer to each other, and a rectangular blue light appeared above them. Kelly jumped out the open window and jogged back to the ledge, seeing the pulsing blue light up close. It gave off only minimal radiation readings, enough for her to know it was there, but nothing was certain. The “bridge” was not trustworthy to use; it would have to be tested. Not spotting anything on the spotless floor to throw onto the light, she pulled out the pistol and took out the ammunition cartridge and dislodged one bullet. I won’t be needing that. Tossing the bulled at the energy stream, it bounced off, making a strange noise, resembling that of her own energy shield. When it stopped bouncing and simply sat on the beam, Kelly became truly intrigued. An energy beam that makes no residual field and is completely tangible and constant. Dr. Halsey would love to see this. But she thought better of herself and continued going, knowing there wasn’t time to waste. Dr. Halsey ad already stressed the importance of this mission, and Kelly planned on completing it as soon as possible. They could come back later for study. Kelly resumed running and began to think of John’s adventure on another Halo ring, now gone by his hand. She remembered the face he made when he first introduced the Flood into the story, and what they did and the purpose of the rings. From what she remembered, the Covenant accidentally released them and caused mayhem for both them and the crew of the Pillar of Autumn. And from the expression her own team leader made, the bravest, most cunning and courageous of all Spartans, she kept her eyes sharp for anything. Everything. Of course, she didn’t know who she was looking for, let alone have any idea where they could be. Kelly could tell that she was meant to search for someone, just from the way Dr. Halsey had phrased the mission. But who could possibly be on this ring? And how would Dr. Halsey know about it? Hell, how did she know where Halo was at all?
