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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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[b]Chapter 4[/b] It had been almost an hour since Cortana responded, and Miranda was worried. There were too many strange occurrences, too many unknowns, and there was no one she could turn to. Nobody but Cortana. Miranda pinged the radio again, there was no response. The meantime 343 had been asking her questions, trying to understand human history. The majority of the time she couldn’t answer at all, but it didn’t seem to make a difference to him. 343 was too thrilled with the knowledge. Johnson had been exceptionally quiet, and walked by himself. Keyes was worried about him, but at the same time didn’t know what to do. She was too drained to come up with a solution of her own, and didn’t have anyone to ask for the first time since… Her mother died when she was very young, before she could remember. Her father had always been a military man, and only returned home a month at a time every six months. She hadn’t realized how grateful she was that he hadn’t taken any time off in the ten years of prior service, just to spend time with her. That was the reason Miranda joined the UNSC. When she looked up at her father, she saw honor, purpose, strength…all of the characteristics she wanted. Now, more than ever, she missed her father, another person to speak to, or even just the company. “So when you first discovered light, you actually believed it to be both a particle and a wave?” Miranda looked up to 343 and shrugged, something that 343 had undoubtedly grown accustomed to. She smirked, and was content for a moment. Then she suddenly caught up with the Elites and Johnson, the former communicating through their radio’s, the latter with fiery eyes and clenched fists. He had refused to speak, and Miranda was genuinely concerned. She keyed her radio to Cortana, but again there was no response. Miranda sighed, and a feeling of loneliness shrouded around her. The silent pause went on, and Miranda waited patiently, just listening to the sounds of nature. Wind rustling through leaves, local animals… A loud stomp focused her on Johnson, who walked away from the group. For a moment, she just stared blankly at him. Then she remembered his current condition was unstable, to say the least. He probably didn’t care to wait around for the Arbiter to make a decision on which direction to go. She turned to the Arbiter and hoped that he would pick where to go, and fast. It was too risky for her to run after him and actually expect the Arbiter to still be here when she returned. “Humans,” he said, looking up. “Our destination is not far. Come.” He turned in the opposite direction and his Elites followed. Keyes looked to Johnson, who pulled his extended arm away from a tree. She could have sworn that bark was coming off as though he had punctured it, but it was dark and misty, and she shook it off. He trudged on very quickly past her, never looking at her once. 343 went forward and she followed when her radio went off. Just then she tripped into a hole in the ground. “Cortana…reporting.” Stunned, Miranda got out of the mud and wiped it off her uniform while looking at the impression in the ground of a boot. At least it looked like a boot. “Report.” — Cortana was having an incredibly difficult time with making a message. Her programming was getting dangerously close to keeping her from doing anything. More and more systems were being activated and deactivated, forcing incredible stress on her processing power. On top of that, a large majority of her operating systems were crashing, and there was little she could do to amend it. She searched for some function to restart systems by themselves, but was unsuccessful. “Systems…deteriorating…making…quick.” “I don’t understand Cortana. What are you saying?” There was no way to explain it, not in her current condition. “Location…compromised…beware…Flood.” Cortana could no longer function effectively. She had been forced into a corner by her faulty programming, which was now crashing. There had been no solution found. Then she realized the true nature of the problem: her programming. It was causing her demise. She needed to find a way to bypass that programming to not self terminate. But her coding, her existence, demanded that this not be possible. That the programming was a key element to her existence, and without it, she would be nothing. “Flood? How soon?” “Oh they’ll be there, you just wait and see.” There was a pause on the other side. “Don’t worry; I’m sure that when they finish with the ape man and the dumb aliens, they will be very gentle with you. “Either way, it won’t be long. Very soon, in fact. Whenever you want, whenever I want…it can all go away! The futility! It really makes no difference, does it? We’re all done for.” She cut the radio off and disabled it. — “Why am I following these fools,” Johnson muttered under his breath. No one could hear him; he was a good ten meters away from everyone. “They first go this way, then that…coordinating like flocks of plants.” It was absurd that he even went with them, but there was little choice. If he wanted to get off Halo, he needed a ship, and they apparently had one. “They’d better have something to eat. Something good.” The thought of food was poor judgment, he realized a moment later. Now he hungered, and greatly. It had been far too long since he last ate. At least it felt like it. And his last meal was nothing to be proud of either. Johnson looked around to find something, anything… He heard Plasma fire up ahead and pushed his way towards it. The Elites were battling Flood. He forgot about being hungry and looked ahead. Approximately fifty meters away, two Phantoms hovered above the ground with ramps extended. More Covenant, the good Covenant, came out and set up stationary guns. He found his ride. Keyes caught up to the group, and the Arbiter turned and yelled “Continue on!” The Flood attacked. Johnson fired a spray of bullets at one Combat form, then another, mowing them down. The Plasma fire from the Covenant did little good against them save for slowing them down, but it wasn’t enough. More were coming and they had to escape. Then Johnson saw Keyes, and a Combat form running towards her. He instinctively wanted to help her, and in doing so wished all the Flood would attack him. Before he knew it, every Combat form was on top of him as Keyes and the Elites ran off. Firing at full blast, Johnson couldn’t keep them at bay. Over thirty Combat forms surrounded him and all pounced at once, and he felt teeth sink into his flesh. He twisted and several flew off of him with incredible force, but the majority of them were still on top of him. Another bite, then another. He felt drowsy, and fell to the ground, still firing his weapon. Keyes looked from the ramp of the first Phantom and didn’t see Johnson, only a multitude of Combat forms. More suddenly ran at her and she jumped into the Phantom.
