Posts on Current Forum | Archived Posts
|
|
|
||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
| Frequently Asked Forum Questions | |
|||
|
||||
|
|
|||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| Search Older Posts on This Forum: Posts on Current Forum | Archived Posts | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| The Fall of Beta (written) conclusion | |
| Posted By: pete_the_duck | Date: 2/18/11 12:59 p.m. |
|
The Fall of Beta So, a while ago, I started a comic project that I had intended to conclude with the launch of Reach. I stopped when I finished part 1. Sorry about that.. the project was just too ambitious and my lack of drawing ability tore away my dedication like a.. something. I do feel bad about not finishing it. But to make ammends, and since bluerunner asked for it, I'd be happy to give you guys a written conclusion to the story I started but never finished. Keep in mind, this was supposed to be posted over the period of time between the Reach Beta ending and Reach launching. ---- PART 1 ---- Pete is at home and the Reach Beta has just ended. He checks HBO, seeing a warning message that clues him in and gives him the chance to escape as Covenant attack his apartment. Confused that everyone seems to be going on as usual, he decides to pick up Kristy (girlfriend? wife?) from her work, but no sooner does he arrive than the Covenant attack the hospital. As they try to escape, they're caught in a Wraith blast and would have died, if not for Nart (in Spartan armor) showing up with a bubble shield. He leads them to the roof where a pelican is waiting. After some banshee schenanigans, they escape. That concluded part one, and that's where I stopped drawing. ---- PART 2 ----
Pete, Kristy, and Nart show up at secret location. When they arrive, they're greeted by Avateur and SonofMacPhisto and ushered in to meet the leader of the group: The Master Chief. The Master Chief takes off his helmet and it's... Louis Wu?! Then JillyBean (as the Cortana equivalent) pops up and the story is explained: Everything we know about the Covenant is true.. with one exception: humanity is winning. Jilly reveals that the Spartan program (developed by Bungie) was so successful that hundreds of thousands of Covenant have been killed, crippling the Covenant war machine. The UNSC had decided to expand the Spartan program with Spartan III's, and Bungie was using the Reach Beta to find potential candidates. Jilly hypothesizes that with the influx of Spartan III's, the Covenant will be so overwhelmed that entire Covenant species will likely become extinct (a jab at the Skirmisher). Then the situation comes to light: The Covenant, aware of Bungie's Spartan III program and desperate to stop it, resort to guerilla tactics. They've managed to get a small Covenant cruiser past Earth's defenses and it is currently stationed over Bungie HQ. Jilly suspects that not only are the Covenant trying to destroy Bungie's Spartan III program directly, but they're also trying to steal data to start their own Spartan program. In addition, they're trying to kill anyone that the Beta identified as a SIII candidate, which is why they attacked Pete's apartment. It's a standoff: both a direct assault or orbital strike would generate too much collateral damage. Essentially, the Covenant are holding the whole city hostage, keeping the UNSC at bay. Wu speaks up that their only option is a small tactical strike force. They need trained soldiers, but unfortunately, due to the success of the Spartan program, hardly any UNSC soldiers have even seen a living Covenant, much less faced one in combat. Jilly continues that the best alternative is people that have spent hours in simulated training against the Covenant. I.E., people that had played Halo. A lot. So Wu and Jilly started gathering HBO folk together to start a mission to save Bungie! Pete and Kristy decide to help, and the 6 of them start off, with Wu explaining that other HBO folk have already been deployed to the area for recon, etc. ---- PART 3 ---- Nart is dropped off nearby to provide sniper support and Pete, Avateur, SonofMacPhisto, and Louis Wu assault the Covenant grav pad in front of Bungie HQ. The pelican (flown by Kristy) is shot and has to crash land, but they succeed in taking the grav pad, and Louis Wu heads up into the Covenant ship to prevent more Covenant from coming down. As he's going up, two hunters come down. Wu kicks one out of the grav pad beam on his way up and it splatters into the ground. The other lands, and after a bit of a struggle, Nart shows up in a warthog and pins it to the wall. Nart stays outside to finish off the hunter, telling the others to head inside. Pete, Avateur, and SonofMacPhisto head inside, being informed by Jilly that they should expect minimal Covenant resistant. Instead, they find dozens of Covenant clustered inside Bungie HQ. Confused, Rockslider shows up and tells them he lured the Covenant inside to make it a really interesting encouter. He also shows them a huge stockpile of heavy weapons he brought in too. Queue montage of Pete, Avateur, SonofMacPhisto, and Rockslider blowing Covies into tiny pieces with a variety of heavy weapons. With the Covenant gone, they find a few Bungie employees that were being held hostage. ---- MEANWHILE Back on the Covenant ship, Louis Wu has made it to the command deck. He faces the ship captain, a gold elite, and the platform they are standing on elevates, bringing them outside the ship, standing on top of it. They battle and the gold elite lunges at Wu with his energy sword. Wu blocks it with a melee attack, the elite is shocked and asks how Wu could block an energy sword with his fist. Wu replies, "didn't you play the Beta?" and kicks the elite off the ship and he falls to his doom. ---- MEANWHILE The guys inside Bungie HQ find a Covenant bomb that has only minutes remaining before it detonates (ala Halo 2). With no way to disarm it, Jilly recommends they bring it to the Covie grav pad (since the pelican crashed), but just then Nart radios in and tells them the grav pad has been deactivated. On top of the Covenant ship, Wu finds himself locked out and can't reactivate the platform to get back inside. They all then realize the Covenant ship is about to leave Earth, with Wu stuck on top and everyone else stuck on the ground along with the bomb. DRAMATIC CLIFFHANGER MOMENT ---- Jilly then asks the Bungie employees if they still have their "prototype", and upon confirmation, a plan is hatched! The bomb is dragged to a different part of Bungie HQ where a giant slingshot has been built. As the group prepares to slingshot the Covenant bomb, Nart uses a pile of grenades to launch his warthog up to Louis Wu. It lands, Wu jumps in, and starts driving down the spine of the Covenant ship as it begins to take off, tilting up more and more. With Jilly's help, Nart starts to work on the Covie grav pad (which the Covie deactivated, but didn't raise back into the ship, leaving it on the ground). He "reverses the polarity", turning it into a gravity pillow. With the ship tilting more and more, the warthog loses traction and starts to fall. Wu jumps out and starts falling, aiming for the repurposed grav pad. The bomb is launched and hits the fleeing Covie ship, sticking to it thanks to all the pointy spines that Covie bombs have. Wu hits the grav pad and his descent is slowed, so he lands safely on the ground. Everyone comes outside and watches the Covie ship fly into the sky, and then explode harmlessly. HURRAY! The end.
| |
|
| Replies: |
| The Fall of Beta (written) conclusion | pete_the_duck | 2/18/11 12:59 p.m. |
| Yay! | bluerunner | 2/18/11 1:14 p.m. |
| This made my day. | padraig08 | 2/18/11 2:02 p.m. |
| Very well done! | Avateur | 2/18/11 3:27 p.m. |
| Re: Very well done! | j41m3z | 2/18/11 3:54 p.m. |
| Re: Very well done! | Avateur | 2/18/11 3:57 p.m. |
The HBO Forum Archive is maintained with WebBBS 4.33. |