{{
`${userDetail.user.displayName}${userDetail.user.cachedBungieGlobalDisplayNameCode ? `#${standardizeBungieGlobalCode(userDetail.user.cachedBungieGlobalDisplayNameCode)}` : ""}`}}
{{getUserClans()}}
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]
-
Everyone rushed to their work, and Helstrum did something he thought his wife promised him not to do: think. It always got him in trouble with her, and she simply wanted to solve that problem. What could knock out all of the systems aboard this station so easily, yet keep it perfectly intact? Well, an EMP blast could do that, but I don’t see how that could have happened. And if it did, only things on would be affected, so chances are that the comm. won’t work. “Sir, the comm.’s not working. All I’m getting is static.” Figures. That’s why she never wanted me to think. I was always right. “Ok, we probably got hit by an EMP blast, but I don’t have any clue how that may have happened. When you guys finish up with my bird, hit the escape pods. They’ll work. And keep the flashlight.” “Sir, we’re all prep’d up. But the blast doors are closed. You’ll have to break through them, or you won’t be able to leave.” “Don’t worry about us. We’ll figure it out. Just get to those escape pods.” The five marines on the ground stood straight and saluted Helstrum, and he returned it graciously. They ran off and he started his Ulysses, giving it a full systems check. “Computer, are there any malfunctions or possible system errors preventing full power?” “Negative. Vessel fully operational.” Good. Whatever blew out the lights left us intact. Putting on his headset, Helstrum flicked a switch to activate it on his team’s designated frequency. “Hey kid, you ready to get outta here?” “Sure thing boss. But what about Jan? The blast probably wiped out her systems as well.” Damnit! “We can’t leave her behind. These fighters all have a distress beacon that activates when any system failures occur. I’ll go and pick her up while you use the grapple to hold her ship in place. Then…we’ll figure out the rest from there. Now take off and follow my lead.” Scrambling off the ground and grabbing the stick, Helstrum veered his ship up and to the left, towards the fighter launch bay. Flying too fast and barely missing the walls, he switched on the ship’s lights, only to find the blast doors a couple hundred meters in front of him. He pulled the trigger and let loose a barrage of missiles, and increased his speed. They flew in front of him and exploded on impact, making smoke appear then disappear into the blackness of space, along with his ship. Reaching the vacuum, his radar showed one red light, blinking in and out of existence. He increased his speed and Sach followed, not falling a step behind. Jan’s ship came into view, Sach flew ahead and connected his grapple to her ship from the top while Helstrum flew underneath and initiated a connection of the two vessels. The computer’s robotic voice came through his headset. “Connection in three, two, one, ships connected. Transfer of personnel and equipment will be possible momentarily. Please stand by.” He waited for a moment, then a green light blinked on his HUD, and the top of the cockpit opened hard before he could even reach for it. Her head peered through. “Took you long enough, sir. With all due respect.” “Of course. Now get in the co-pilot seat and set all the warheads to detonate on impact. We’ll have Sach steer your best friend into the biggest Covenant ship we can find, and get it within their shields. That way, we won’t waste any good firepower we have.” “Umm, sir, without being able to steer that thing, we won’t have the time or ability to bring it inside any capital ship and have enough time to get out. Maybe we should leave it for later?” “Yes, that sounds like a plan. Sach, you hear all that?” “Yes sir, dropping off this baby now. I’m reading an energy spike in that Covenant ship at 243 by 184. Their firing at the Cairo!” “Damn! Full engines! Let’s beat them to the punch!” “Norman,” Jan said, covering her mike, “we won’t have time. If their firing now, the Cairo’s a goner. There’s no need to give away our positions or jeopardize our mission by flying in blind.” I hate it when that woman’s right. Damn, too many lives lost already. Now this… “Alright, let’s take it nice and slow. We’ll leave the ship here and come back for it when we’re out of ammo. In the meantime, let’s get over to the battle. Jan, what’s the situation with the fleet?” “Scanning…sir, I think there’s a malfunction with your systems. I read no operational UNSC stations or ships at all. Just us and Sach.” “Wait, you can see Sach on your scan?” “Yeah, it’s weird. I don’t get what’s wrong with this thing. Maybe it’s cause we’re so close to him.” “No, its worse than that. The EMP blast that shut off all your systems must have reached the entire fleet as well. That means that there could be hundreds, maybe even thousands of people stranded out here in space, just waiting to be zapped by those Covie bastards.” “I don’t think so, sir.” “What? What are you talking about?” “Sir, look at nine ‘o clock, right at the Earth’s edge. Do you see it?” Squinting as hard as he good, the Commander looked at the Earth, seeing the faint blue sky from his angle, and seeing a strange object, quite large if he could see it from this distance, coming out from behind the Earth. “Sir, it’s showing as a UNSC ship. But we have no records of it anywhere.” “Well I’ll be damned. I don’t care if I can’t see it, or even if I don’t know how big it is or what it looks like; as long as there are Humans in there, we’re in business. Let’s move out! We don’t want to keep our prey waiting.”
