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Halo: ODST-High Charity
Posted By: Go Vader<darthiec501@hotmail.com>
Date: 20 December 2009, 2:47 am


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Halo: ODST-High Charity

Part 1: False Clarity

The hums of the Phantom and horrid stench of Brutes woke Gunnery Sergeant Scott McHale who found himself near the giant ape-like creatures. He turned his head and saw his squad mates either laying down dead or sitting up, but being near-death themselves. They were Orbital Drop Shock Troopers who made up a second initial force against the Covenant on the ring world known as Halo. The In Amber Clad had jumped with the Prophet of Regret's carrier over New Mombasa back on Earth and ended up here. His squad didn't go in HEV pods with the other ODSTs, Sergeant Johnson, and Spartan-117, or Master Chief as he was commonly know. Instead, they landed on Halo inside a Pelican after I was signaled Chief and another batch of Marines made it to the temple that the Prophet of Regret was hiding in.

Unfortunately, it was at bad timing. When they got there it was over, the Covenant had disintegrated the temple and presumably Master Chief and his Marines. Not only that, but they were discovered by Brutes as soon as they landed. Looks like the Chief didn't clear out the area beforehand after all like they were told. Nobody had even saw the Brutes anywhere on Delta Halo, it's nickname seeing as another Halo had been found beforehand. They waited for the Pelican to set down before attacking. Brute Shots and Fuel Rod Cannons rendered the Pelican inoperable and the ODSTs found themselves beaten senseless.

Getting back to the present, McHale saw that the attack had taken it's toll on his squad. Private Paul Anderson lay motionless near the foot of a Brute, his head apparently caved in by the giant's foot. Corporal Mohamed Al-Kali was sitting with his back against the Phantom's wall, but he was either dead or resting, Scott couldn't tell. Privates George and Richard Hodges were looking alive though as the constant turning of their heads indicated life.

Suddenly, he felt the Phantom stop and the saw the hatches open. He was promptly picked up by a gray haired Brute, along with his other living members of his fellow ODSTs, and taken off the ship. Looking around he saw he was inside the giant space station looking place he noticed while still in the In Amber Clad. Turning his neck to the left he noticed another Phantom go to the opposite part of this station, probably another batch of prisoners. The outside view quickly disappeared as he was led into a hallway and to an elevator. The anti-gravity platform led to a familiar looking place, a jail cell. Inside he found their were other prisoners, though not human. Angry, rabid looking Jackals snapped at them with the fire of destruction in their eyes. Richard was thrown in their cell, his screams hinting vividly at what was being done to him. George tried to break free, but was secured by a Brute and thrown into an empty cell. Al-Kali and McHale were tossed into a separate cell across from George's. The continuous migraine, the sight of George's sudden death, and the repulsive stench of the cells in general were too much to Scott McHale to handle and he drifted into unconsciousness yet again.

Elsewhere on High Charity a "demon" appeared out of thin air in a shroud of yellow energy to challenge the Prophets. The First Battle of High Charity had begun.

Part 2: Freedom

McHale was brutally awaken with a smack to his face by a hand, a human hand. Al-Kali was standing above him, purple blood soaking his armor.

"Come one Gunny, time to get moving" Al-Kali said. Still adjusting to his sudden awakening, Scott managed to utter "Report Corporal, what happened". "About ten minutes ago a brief power surge opened our cells, all of ours" Al-Kali answered obviously hinting to the purple blood smothered on his chest. McHale staggered out of the cell and saw the carnage, all the rabid Jackals were dead. Makes sense McHale thought to himself looking back at Mohamed,Al-Kali is a bear of a man and I doubt some wimpy birds would be able to take him.

Suddenly, thoughts of George surged in his mind, but he was relieved to see his other squad mate alive although something was amiss. Hodges was sitting down, head in his elevated legs. McHale walked up to George and said "C'mon Private, we're out of here". He was meet by the still helmet clad stare of George, but he could hint the signs of "What are you talking about?" on George's shielded face. Even so, George stands up and gives Scott a salute. Al-Kali walked up and handed them both Covenant Carbines and Plasma Pistols.

"Where did you find these Corporal?" McHale asked a little impressed that Al-Kali managed to secure weapons. "They kept them in containers just outside the door" Al-Kali replied "Seems odd when you consider it with the prisoners and what not". Scott smiled at the stupidity the Covenant employed with their jail security. George said nothing. "Oh" Al-Kali said "I think you'll need this" as he handed Scott his helmet. The vacuum seal of the helmet met his armor and he was ready to go.

Al-Kali walked up to the elevator console and attempted to summon an elevator. All he kept getting was an annoying beep and a red light. That's when George made an "up" motion with his hands at the elevator already coming down. "I didn't call that elevator, get down!" Al-Kali screamed. The trio crouched down behind the console to avoid being spotted.

The hum of the anti-gravity technology that powered the elevator was getting closer and closer. "On three, we attack whatever is on that elevator" McHale ordered as both Al-Kali and Hodges nodded. As soon as the elevator touched down, Scott and George opened a flurry of green projectiles on the unfortunate Grunts and Jackals that were on the elevator. Al-Kali, Needler in hand, lunged at a Jackal and slammed the needle side on the remaining Jackal's face. Puncture holes dotted the dead Jackal's face as Al-Kali ripped the Needler from it's face.

"Well men" McHalo said "Lets get going". The ODSTs stepped up on the elevator and went up.

Elsewhere on High Charity, a separate group of Marines on the other side of the Covenant's holy city are liberated by the Prophet's challenger.

Part 3: Revelations

Hum, hum, hum, hum

The sound of the lift pulsated as it made it's climb up. McHale checked his ammo, deduced he had enough shots left before he needed to reload and slacked his arms. George had been a little too trigger happy and was on his second mag of Carbine ammo. Al-Kali just wiped spots of Jackal blood off the needles of the Needler, he took out two Jackals just using the Needler as a pistol sized mace.

When they reached the top floor, they rushed and crouched behind three indiduval pillars near a stone statue of a Prophet. "For a zealous race of religious nutjob aliens, they sure do like making statues of themselves" Ali-Kali remarked. "Is humanity any different Mouhamud?" McHale asked him "In any case, we need to find a vehicle to get out of here, do any of you men see a map?". They looked around their general area, but couldn't find anything at first. However, George walked towards a door and found a holographic display of High Charity. He signaled Al-Kali and McHale over with his arms and they began trying to deduce where they were.

"Okay, this display says we are...here" McHale pointed to a red dot on the hologram. "Hey Gunny, this display says there are some Phantoms roughly three klicks from this position, think we can make it?" Al-Kali asked. "Corporal, we're ODSTs, of course we can make it".

As they were about to leave, they noticed a monitor displaying feeds from around High Charity. One screen showed a large group of Grunts sleeping or eating from odd stuctures of sorts, another showed the Phantoms Al-Kali pointed out, and another showed Marines fighting ELites, Jackals and Grunts. McHale noticed something extrodinary as the fight contined, a green armored figure was leading the charge, it was Master Chief.

"I'll be damned boys, the Chief survived after all" McHale said almost with a shout. "How is that possible Gunny?" Al-Kali questioned "We saw the vaporized ruins of that temple when we were coming in from the In Amber Clad". "Doesn't matter how or why Mouhamud, all that matters is that we find hm and re-group" McHale answered sterly. They decided to grab a Phantom, grab it, and then find the Chief to get them the Hell out of here. The actual way to get out was still being formulated.

When they exited the room they were shocked to see equally surprised Brutes. The ODSTs opened fire and managed to kill two of the five Brutes before the others took cover behind the Prophet statue. Exhanges of red-hued plasma, grenades, and needles, and green projectiles were engulfing the room. One of the Brutes left his cover and rushed the squad. The Brute jumped up, landed, and roared while staring at George. Al-Kali saw the Brute sprint toward George and met the beast halfway with a tackle. The hairy ape had brought a Brute Shot with it, but dropped the thing when it was brought down by Mouhamud. George instincly scooped it up and slammed the large blade into the stunned creatures cranium.

"I could use some help over her!" McHale yelled at his fellow ODSTs who were perfomring a mini-victory dance over toppling the Brute. Like clockwork, they retrived their weapons and went back to the fight. This time, Al-Kali had the Brute Shot and led McHale and George in a charge of their own. They swept around the pillars and zeroed in on their targets, George and McHale filled one Brutes head with Carbine rounds while Al-Kali slashed the final Brutes throat with the Brute Shot's blade and pumped two grenade rounds in it's chest. When the smoke cleared, all three soliders were tired, but victorious.

Getting re-adjusted, they headed towards their objective, a Phantom loading dock three klicks from their position.

Elsewhere on High Charity, uneasy trust became full fledged hatred. The first attack was a Brute crushing an Elite's head with it's bare hairy fists when he noble warrior wasn't looking. The Great Schism had started, and the ODSTs, and even the Master Chief, were in the middle of it.





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