>>47209665
Ahead of you in the main passageway seems to be a massive chamber, filled with bright white light that contrasts to the light blue that fills the rest of the complex. The passageway leads to a strange, glowing bridge, that looks a little like Covenant shields, but somehow more solid. The bridge stretches out across a great chasm, as far as you can tell, leading to a floating platform in the centre of the massive chamber. You can see another massive passageway on the other side of the chamber, as well as one higher up and one lower down, though they don't have any bridges. Could it be some kind of massive elavator? There also seem to be smaller passageways set into the walls of the chamber, though you can't make out any details at this distance.

Behind you is the way you came, leading back to the outside and the canyon.

You were deciding which path to take. You Squad looks at you expectantly.

>We'll take the side tunnel, hopefully it'll be less exposed.
>It'll be safer somewhere where we can get lost by virtue of scale. Head for the massive chamber.
>It's too spooky for me. Turn back
>Other

>>47209673
>>It'll be safer somewhere where we can get lost by virtue of scale. Head for the massive chamber.

>>47209673
>>It's too spooky for me. Turn back

>>47209673
>It'll be safer somewhere where we can get lost by virtue of scale. Head for the massive chamber.

Use the elevator and make sure to leave a brick on its ..... floaty part so it can't return...

Writing

"Let's not head down that way," you say, pointing at the side corridor. "Stinks of Covies down there, we're definitely going to run into contact. We'll head into the big chamber and hopefully get lost by virtue of scale."
"Roger," Matilda says.
"Let's just hope they don't have any jackal patrols," Erika says.
"Not to worry," Matilda replies. "I can handle any snipers."
You set off at a walking pace, leading the squad on. "I was actually the best counter-marksman in my squad on this very planet," you brag.
"We'll see who has the record by the end of this," Matilda says.

You walk cautiously towards the large, open space, eyes alert and open. Your squad splits up to either side of the passageway, covering each other from threats. You finally get a good look at the place.

A ledge rings around the shaft, forming what you can guess is some sort of floor or storey. There are two more of these ledges above you, but when you look over the (fenceless) edge and into the shaft below, you're staggered. The shaft continues down an uncountable number of floors, deep into the planet. You get vertigo from looking at it, and take some quick steps backwards. You do not want to fall down that. You wonder if it could be bottomless.

Looking around the ledge, you see some things of note. To your right is one of those grunt gas refueling pods, currently hooked up to some of the small aliens, though they seem to be asleep. To your left is a large OD green box, a standard UNSC prefab building. It snuggles up against the wall, dark and squatting. There are a couple of utility vehicles parked in front of it, with some strange, glowing objects that look a little like power cores hooked up to some UNSC equipment. A couple of small mechanical lifts are attached to the edge near the building, giving access to the upper and lower floors for a few people at a time.

1/2

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>>47210638
Lastly, but not least, is what appears to be the main elevator. It's massive, with enough room to hold a pair of scorpions and change. A ramped structure takes up the centre of the platform, with a little gondola looking object at the top. A thin blue pillar of light lances straight through the centre of the platform, seemingly acting as a tether. It comes from an emitter in the roof of the chamber, and continues all the way down as far as you can see. The strange, glowing bridge, which you can only say looks to be made of light, stretches between the ledge and the platform, giving you access. Near you on the ledge is a small glowing terminal, looking a little like a volumetric display, which you assume is a call button for the massive elevator.

You look to the rest of your squad. Levern and Erika shrug to you.
"I don't have any words for this, boss," Levern says. "It's way above my paygrade."
You look to Matilda, but she offers you nothing from behind her faceplate.

>Check out the UNSC building
>Investigate the elevator
>Approach the sleeping grunts
>Other

>>47210696
>>Approach the sleeping grunts
Wake up, Sunshine!

>>47210696
>>Approach the sleeping grunts
Bleed 'em...real quiet.

>>47210696
>>Approach the sleeping grunts

>>47210696
>Check out the UNSC building
Using the elevator would probably wake them up.

Writing

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Side note

short delay, will be back soon!

>>47210977
I don't know what I'm looking at.

>>47211159
It's a screen from Stellaris, the new 4x game from Paradox. It's good, It's very good.
Here he used custom races to make it look like the in quest Halo settings, I'd guess

>>47211152
ok I'm back and writing

>>47211320
nah it's not in quest, it's just me fucking around

really good game though

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You nod towards the sleeping grunts to your squadmates. "Let's go clean up a little mess first."
Your squadmates nod, and you quietly head over to the sleeping aliens. The little aliens snore and wheeze, their gas tanks letting out little clouds of methane. Some of them mutter in their sleep, in their strange, squeaky language, but none of them wake up as you approach. The five of you each take a grunt of your own, leaving two spare. You draw and raise your combat knife, and the others do the same. You count it down, subvocalising in your throat, but your helmet comms picking it up and broadcasting it over the local channel. All at once, you strike. Doc, Lancer and yourself do it the old fashioned way, plunging your knife into the alien's throat and cutting. Matilda demonstrates her strength, plunging the blade straight through the grunt's skull and into the brain. Erika has some trouble.

>>47211960
Inexperienced, Erika stabs her grunt in the eye. The grunt screams in pain and terror, arousing the other two. One squeals in terror and runs for a side corridor you didn't notice before, and the other reaches for its weapon. Erika manages to stab the screaming grunt again, silencing it. You tackle the smart grunt and wrestle it to the ground, before cutting its throat. You look after the last one, but Matilda has it handled. She takes three quick strides and /pummels/ the little bastard, killing it almost instantly.

You hope no other covenant heard that scream, but they're dashed as your helmet's external microphones pick up and enhance some distant grunt chatter from that side corridor.
"Sounds like we've woken up the bastards," Matilda says.
"I'm so sorry," Erika gushes. "It was my first time ever killing anything with a knife, I just thought that's how you were meant to do it! I fucked it all up!"
"It's alright Erika," you stop her before she can get any more hysterical. "We're fine, we'll talk about it later. We've got other things to deal with first!"

>Fall back to the UNSC building, it's familiar and might have useful supplies
>Assault forwards to the side corridor, hit them hard and fast before they can gather
>Fall back to the large passageway, you don't want to get cut off from your only escape route
>Other

>>47211960
>>Fall back to the UNSC building, it's familiar and might have useful supplies

>>47211980
>>Fall back to the UNSC building, it's familiar and might have useful supplies

>>47211980
>>47211980
>>Fall back to the UNSC building, it's familiar and might have useful supplies
How about Matilda go on a rampage?

>>47211980
eating, then I will write the last post for tonight

>>47211980
>Other
Find something of value the leave this place

You point towards the UNSC building. "We need somewhere to defend, and I bet that building has some useful supplies in it. Ammo, vehicles, whatever. Let's move, before the Covies show up."
You receive a number of affirmations, and you move out as one. Halfway across the distance, the group of grunts come pouring out of the minor passageway. Doc and Lancer suppress them with their ARs before the aliens could get a shot off, but you need to keep moving. You and Erika halt and start covering the other pair, while Matilda sprints ahead to the building, leaving you behind. She kicks the door in and rushes inside.
Before you can wonder, she calls over the comm. "Building's clear, move up. I'll cover from here." She takes a stance next to the door with her DMR, and starts firing into the grunts. Some of them fall, and the rest scurry and hide. The four of you rush in, you taking up stance with your battle rifle and taking down a few grunts yourself, before Matilda closes the door to the answering plasma.

1/2

>>47212709

The lights are off inside, but helmet mounted flashlights make up for the darkness. The first room appears to be a lounge, but a corridor leads deeper in to several offices, a briefing room, and some sort of monitoring station. Doc stays in the front room with Erika, observing and firing at the grunts from the small viewing ports, while you and Matilda head into the monitoring station. Lancer heads through the back to see what else there is to find.
Matilda finds one of the terminal's power points and switches it on. The screens come to life, which means that the complex must have its own power somewhere. The terminal appears to be a security station of some kind. You find the key and flick through the screens, finding an alarming amount of Covenant roaming the halls of the facility. It's all the same, silver halls devoid of life, abandoned UNSC equipment and gear, a corridor teeming with Covenant of all kinds. Some of the feeds are just offline. You flick over to another and find a bleak landscape. A room somewhere in the complex is filled with a dozen dead marines and some researches in their lab coats. They had erected a hasty barrier in a room with no exits, and had fought off near a hundred covenant in the corridor beyond.

2/3

>>47212721
"Fuck," you mutter.
"I guess we know what happened to the people here," Matilda says.
You sigh, depressed. You flick through a few more feeds, not expecting to find anything, but one catches your eye. You switch back to it, labelled 'CORE_ROOM_3'. It's an expansive chamber, rectangular in shape, with the camera mounted in one corner. There appears to be some large crystal in the centre on a dais. It glowed with a warped, blue light. A large terminal was before it, and some figures stood around that terminal. You find the camera controls and zoom in on the figures.
"You WILL do what we say," an alien voice rasps, startling you.
"Did that fucking Covie just speak English?" you ask.
There are seven figures standing in a loose circle. A pair of humans stand on the outside, elites holding them fast. An elite in golden armour stands tall above them all, with a human woman in a lab coat standing before the terminal, and some creature you've never seen before sitting in some sort of hovering throne.
"Begin the process, heretic," the strange creature hisses. "Do it, or we shall kill your companions."
"Holy shite," Matilda intejects.
"What?" you ask. "What the fuck is going on here?"
"Dan, my friend, you won't believe this, but that's a prophet. That's one of the leaders of the Covenant."
"A leader? Like a general or something?"
"No Dan, like a political or spiritual leader. Like the Blessed Queen of England."
"Oh," you say. "Shit."

And that's it for tonight. Next thread will be either this weekend or early next week. Might start doing Straya quest on akun inbetween.

I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things. I'll see you guys soon!

>>47212750
dun dun DUUUUUUUUN

thanks for the thread m8

>>47212750
Thanks for running, don't forget to archive.