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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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When the Spartans were children, they were taught every single major battle in the history of Earth ever recorded. Every Spartan, regardless of how exhausted or tired they were from their calisthetics training, was always wide awake to see and learn about everything that had happened. That single story from his CO was the best he had ever heard, and possibly the best he would ever hear, depending on how well they would fare in the next day or so. Something seemed to move in the corner of his eye, and Will jerked the gauss cannon towards it so fast that any normal person would have whiplash to keep them hospitalized, for good. But nothing was there, nothing but shadows of a defeated ally. Easing up a bit, he set his motion sensors to maximum range and sensitivity, not really wanting to be caught off guard. But he could have sworn that something was there… Again something caught in his peripheral vision, but he waited this time, eyeing his motion sensors, waiting for them to tell him that he was right. Waiting for the enemy to come out of hiding, or at least the demons plaguing him to be proven nonexistent. Just then, his suspicions were proven correct, and the motion sensor displayed one, no…two targets approaching at four ‘o clock. Turning the gauss cannon around, he let loose two shots, each one eliminating the targets utterly and devastatingly. Both were Grunts, the one in front with a terminal hole where its abdomen should be and the other beheaded. He realized that the shots he let out would alert others, and kept himself quite alert. A fully charged plasma bolt streaked slowly towards him, and hearing it ducked behind the cover the gauss cannon gave, and let loose another barrage. More enemies fell, but he could hear the footsteps of more coming. There were too many of them, and he wasn’t sure whether he could take them all on. Not without cover and a good plan. They rushed him, and the trigger was pulled, letting out more fire from the cannon. He opened a channel to the other Spartans. “I’m taking heavy fire back at the Warthog. Don’t know how long I’ll hold them off. There’s too many of them!” But they kept coming and he kept firing. A Grunt primed a plasma grenade and threw it just before he could take it out, and it sailed through the air. The aim was too close to the Warthog, and Will jumped over the cannon and into the driver’s seat where the engine was still running, and slammed on the gas. Only a second later did the back fly into the air, but the Warthog kept together. He drove around the attacking vectors he’d noticed and caught up with Fred and Linda, who were all too happy to see the back of the car. Only then had he noticed that the back tires were completely dead and on fire, giving them the idea to leave the car. “Comm. station 32, we need a pickup at sector 290618. When can we get it?” “The closest thing we have is two minutes away from that location. We’ll send it immediately.” “Negative command. Tell them to pick us up in five. We have some unfinished business to attend to. Spartan -104 out. Will, take point. Lead us to them. Linda, take the rear, make sure nothing we spotted decides their too good for death. Light weapons; let’s make this fast and quiet.” They moved quickly, backtracking to their original position, but kept shy of it when their motion sensors went off. Will turned the corner and counted several Brutes and Elites, while most of the Grunts and Jackal’s where only on the ground, moving as much as the burning artillery behind them. Fred motioned for Linda to find a secure sniping spot and alert them when she was ready: She’d take out most of the targets if she could. Will and Fred would act as support. The only thing they worried about were the Drones that may attack her, something they didn’t normally have to worry about until the first attack on Earth. Times Change… Giving the go ahead, Linda let loose five shots, dropping all the brutes and stunning an Elite while taking down its shields, giving Fred the one-hit-kill he’d wanted all day. Then he and Will came out guns blazing, mowing down Elites and Drones alike. “Grenade!” came from behind them, and both jumped for cover as it exploded and let loose a torrent of sand into the air, and tore through the remaining Covenant forces on this side of the city. All air traffic was halted except for their ship, which wasn’t due in for another minute or so, and all airwaves were quiet. All except those from space. The Spartans took a moment to listen in on the conversations taking place, the barking of orders to take evasive maneuvers, to fire all weapons and evacuate the ships, to rearm and repair any and all fighters. “Damn wish we could help”, Will said bluntly. He kicked a rock underfoot and ended up crushing it, but it didn’t matter. “Don’t worry, we’ll get our share. Just you wait.” The Pelican came right on schedule, the downward thrusters throwing sand in every direction. The Spartans ran in, eager to get out of the graveyard they’d just seen and added residency to, and didn’t feel comfortable in it any longer. “Sirs, we’ve been ordered to take you to sector 620384 immediately. A huge Covenant force is building there, and you’re leading our troops. Our ETA is two hours. I’d suggest you catch some z’s while you can, cause it’s gonna be one hell of a ride after we land.”
