#halo fall of reach

[empresskadia]

Okie, I finished Halo: Retribution. It was good, the beginning took me a minute to get into. We’re also almost done with Halo: Fall of Reach, just Sam, *cue long sigh* I’m upset. I bought Halo Wars last night, I haven’t met Red Team but Jerome did pop his head in for a second, so that was exciting. Ooo, I finally started playing Halo Infinite’s multiplayer and I’m having a blast.

My highlight note when reading Retribution is that Kelly is the best.

#halo #halo series #Kadia chatter #halo retribution #halo fall of reach #halo wars #thank you for coming to my ted talk #that’s my update #i need to read glasslands cause i have questions people need to answer

[justxrandomxlivia]

Emile A239 x fem!Reader part two

Portrait by Joshua Ezzell

Part one Masterlist

Summary: After meeting up with the rest of Team Noble, you're set out on your first mission. Things don't go as planned and you end up arguing with Emile about your behavior. Just why does he have to hold your face like this and stand so damn close you can barely breathe?

Warnings: war, mention of weapons, mention of death, angst, sarcasm, overall harmless, with some hints of early stage smut

Word count: 4503

AN: I posted the second chapter a couple of days ago already, but I was not satisfied how it turned out. So I wrote many parts new and I promise you. You will fall in love with Emile now! He is the most precious angry fluffball ever.

Chapter two: Be a good girl, and I'll take my helmet off for you

15 minutes have already passed, since we started in New Alexandria. We left the heavy rain clouds in the city, and I can finally see a few sunrays again. Two weeks I haven’t seen the sun anymore. The feeling that I’ll never see the sun anymore, grew bigger, minute by minute as I waited in my apartment for pick up.

But being now with Noble Team, makes me believe that everything will be fine. Carter explained me the situation, we are meeting rest of the Noble Team at a safe zone camp. 80 click souths from my home city. Once we arrived, we will be heading 20 click west to an old military facility for pick up of an ONI squad. With this squad we will leave fly all the way to Reach and head towards Quezon. West of New Alexandria, behind the ocean. Once we arrived, Noble Team will drop me off and I will get escorted by a UNSC special forces squad to earth.

Then I will just wait for the war to be over before I can return home? Somehow this doesn’t go well with me. I trained years of my life; I have been in different wars myself already. Against Rebels, Terrorists and others. So why am I not allowed to fight now. Its my home as well. I should fight with my brothers and sisters.

“We are landing in 2 minutes.” Says a pilot over the radio, what rips me out of my thoughts. And as we are descending, I can see how the sun slowly sets itself behind the thick clouds and mountains. I’m looking at Carter, who gives me a nod to get ready. Emile on the other side had said nothing. Not a single word, for the 15 minutest as we are in the sky. He just sat at the edge of the helicopter, scanning the area with a heavy machine gun. He seems more professional than I thought in the first place. Maybe I got him all wrong.

The helicopter eventually landed, and I followed Carter into a little tent. Four Spartans were looking directly at me as I entered. Spartans can be really scaring sometimes…

“Noble Team, this is Miss l/n. Ma’am, meet Kat, noble two.” A woman in light blue Armor nods at me. I try my best to nod with a serious face back. Trying to hide my nervosity. As Carter continues: “Jun, Jorge, Noble three and Noble five. And Lieutenant Sixx, obviously he got the callsign Noble six.” He pointed at everyone, while walking towards a simple build contact station. I looked at each of them, “It’s an honour to meet you. You can call me y/n. I don’t really like those formalities.” It sounded a little more desperate then I hoped it would, but maybe it helps me to stay calm.

Kat turned to me and gave me a light smile: “I’ve read your file Ma’am. You are more tough than you look. No need to feel intimidated by us. We don’t bite. Well, almost all of us don’t.” With that, she lifted her head and looked behind me. “You should just stay a little alert around our Grim Reaper.” She chuckled and turned her attention toward the contact station. A little confused I looked behind, seeing Emile standing at the tent entrance. Of course, he bites. I’m not even surprised; he looks like he could and probably would at one point. Quickly I turn my attention to the rest of the squad. Jorge was once a commander of the squad I served with. Against Insurrectionists, here on Reach. “Sir, it’s good to see a familiar face.” I said to him. He smiled softly, as he came a little closer to me. With his heavy hand on my shoulder he said: “Y/n, I’m glad to see you are in one piece. Your father was quite worried as he heard about the covenant. We will bring you to safety as soon as possible.” I smiled back. “Yes, thanks for that, I guess. Even though, I should fight for my home, not run away from it.” With my smile fading into a face of self-disappointment, he just let out a laugh. “I didn’t expect anything less from you. You will get a chance. But your father gives and order, and we all, just as you, are supposed to follow it.”

He's right. “But I hope I can at least kick some ass before leaving Reach.” I replied.

“Alright, attention Team.” Carter interrupts our little, small talk. And everybody pays close attention to the contact station. A hologram map shows up. He points at an ONI facility; “20 clicks west, we will meet a backup squad and secure the facility. Taking down all covenant and bring the facility back online.” He picks up a small P.a.d. from the table and hands to me. “Make sure to stay in contact at all times ma’am.” A quick nod from me as response as I fix the p.a.d. on my wrist.

Kat looks at me, “She needs some weapons, or do you want any of us to play babysitter?” She clearly won’t take the job, that’s the tone of her voice saying. Carter points with his thumbs at a weapon chest next to the station. “Take what you are most comfortable with.” He says to me. I response with another nod. As he continues: “Anyway else, I want that one of you stay full time with her. She is a highly important freight. We can’t take any chances.” He looks at each of the Noble Team members. I hope he picks Jorge. He’s the only one I know and to be honest, he’s the only next to Carter who I’d trust.

 But he had other plans. “Emile, make sure she doesn’t get a single scratch. Team, we’re leaving in 10 minutes. Get ready.” He just dismisses us and is about to leave the tent. When Emile finally says something: “What? Sir with all due respect, you gotta be kidding!” He sounds angry.

Kat comes next to Emile: “Sir, I must agree with Emile, for the first time ever. I’m sure that Six or Jorge would be the better candidate for the job.” She really argues with the commander. I’m curious if she tries to protect Emile, or me? But it seems that Carter won’t budge. “My decision is made. No discussion. I need your skillset to make sure she will arrive in Quezon alive.” He says with a stern look, then he looks at me: “Ma’am. Take the weapons of your choice, vest, night vision and get ready to move.” With his final words, he leaves. And so do the others one by one. Kat looks one time more at me, “Good luck.” She smiles at me with a concerned face and leaves. While Jorge comes past me, he pats me on the shoulder, before leaving the tent as well. Now it’s only Emile and me. This is going to be great. Really great. I let out a sigh as I look at him. Then, there it is again. That feeling. He looks at me, and I can feel how he tries to kill me with his piercing stare. I turn around, trying to ignore his death threat and walk towards the weapon chest, short after I turned away, Emile left the tent as well. I survived. For now.

Now let’s pick some toys. There are not many weapons in, but I quickly made my decision. I take a MK50 Sidekick, a great sidearm that's ideal for finishing weakened enemies off. As I trained for the Airforce, I worked mainly as sniper and medic, so I’ll chose the S7 Sniper. Light and compact. The exact model I trained with, from the beginning of my time in the UNSC Airforce.

Even though I was categorized as too small for the UNSC to join in the first place, it gave me many opportunities to take down enemies in close range, while I could move faster around them and take them down with a combat knife. So of course, I’ll be taking a M1 combat knife, as I used back in the fights. A bullet proof vest and a night vision device. Ready dressed and packed, I make my way out of the tent. As I turn the corner to meet rest of the team at the landing zone, my soul leaves at the second I get yelled at, by a certain skull visor. “What the hell? You are dum?!” Emile yells at me from behind as I get shocked to the core and jump around, I see how he stomps towards me. That’s it. I’m going to die. What have I done to deserve that. I’m just praying to God, while he stops right in front of me, looking down on me, as if I’m a little child. Then he growls: “A sniper rifle? Do I look like I wanna sit in a corner drinking tea while the others dance with the covenant scum? Go pick Jun if you’re too scared to face the enemy directly, but I’m not taking care of you then!” He stomps past me.

Hold up. That’s why he is mad? God, he is the little child. I definitely will have a hard time handling him, but I’m not going to change my weapon. It will come in handy, and I still have my sidekick gun. I shake my head as if I try to shake his anger off me. Then I make my last steps to the landing zone. Standing next to Emile, I look up at him with a serious face: “Just for your knowledge, with a sniper rifle that size, I can easily take down any enemy who will come in closer range. Also I got a MK50 sidekick. Captain Obvious. In the end it’s going to be me, who has to make sure you don’t get a scratch. And probably will end up babysitting you then. So you better be more kind. Sir.” Realizing what I just said, I can hear the others giggle. The only ones clearly not laughing is me. Why do I have to push my limits always. He’s so going to abandon me in a fight. Or even push me off a cliff, should we come across one. I want to facepalm myself. But - Hold up! He is laughing himself. What the??

I look now even more shocked towards him, he is serious laughing. He turns his head to me, “You think I need back up from a tiny dwarf like you? Not even your wildest dream.” Is he insulting me now? Or joking? I’m confused! To my luck, I can hear Carter approaching from behind, with an amused voice he pats me on the shoulder: “I told you, you two will get along just fine.”

With the team in a good mood, we split up in two groups and jump on the helicopters. Kat, Jorge and Carter are in the other helicopter, while Emile and Noble Six sit on the opposite side of Jun and me. Jun, pushes me light at the shoulder: “I give you some advice.” He says while pointing at Emile. “Make as many jokes as you want to, but don’t be surprised if he’s coming after you. You can always hide behind Carter or Six. But don’t come running at me, I don’t want to die myself.” He says while laughing a little more. I nod with a awkward terrified smile at him. Does he want to tell me that he fears Emile?

Should I take his advice serious? Either way I say dumb shit to Emile, or even worse shit, that makes him angry. I will probably make him kill me. My face drops with the realisation that my life hangs by a threat. As Emile tilts his head light to the side and looks at me: “As long as I got orders to make sure you don’t loose a leg, I won’t rip off your head as well.” He says with a cool voice. Turning away once again.

Wow, how charming. I think ironically. But yeah, actually, his voice, is really charming. I hits me like a thunderstrike. Holy no! Pull yourself together girl! We are not falling for a Spartan! No No No NO! Instantly I turn my face away from the others, trying to hide my blushing cheeks. This is seriously no time to catch feelings. Also, he is so rude and reckless. And childish. And has probably many issues. No no. We don’t do love stuff here. We are professionals. So be one professional soldier. God damn. While discussing with myself, I just pray that this flight is over soon, so I can focus on the covenant instead of my stupid thoughts.

As the helicopter is turning around the mountain, we get a call over radio: “This is Carter. We get no communication with ONI. The plan changed. Jun, you stay in the helo, get up at that hill, right heading. Find a clear vision over the facility. Emile and Six, clear the left entrance area. Y/n, according to your record, you are a medic, means you go with the two and get ready for first aid, if you find any injured. All clear?” Carter gives straight instructions. Jun looks at Emile and Six, both are nodding in response, then they turn to me and I gave a quick nod as well. Jun answers over the radio quickly: “Affirmative, Sir.” With that said, we are starting to descend. I know what will come. War. But against the covenant. I never fought against any aliens before. Slowly my guts starting to turn. Then Jun pushes me once again lightly at the shoulder, I turn to him and he just gives me a thumbs up. It’s not much, but it calms me down a little, I give him a thumbs up back.

The helicopter touches the ground, and we hop off. Jun gives me one more thumb up as the helicopter rises again. Now it’s time to focus. So far, I don’t see any civilians, soldiers and no covenant. The sun has almost set completely. Taking a deep breath, I grip my rifle tight and follow Emile and Six. They give calls each other on where to walk, that the area is clear and where to move. I just follow Emile. Close, but so that he still can move free. We are approaching the left entrance of the ONI facility, and the bad feeling inside me grows bigger. I try to get a little closer to Emile and whisper to him: “Hey, Emile. I have a bad feeling. This is smelly.”, he stops in his tracks and turns his head light. “So what? You scared because your belly is grumbling? There’s no turning back now. Shut up and keep moving.” He harshly cuts me off and continues walking again. I let out an annoyed sigh and follow him once more, this time, I keep more distance. It’s a trap! I can feel it, don’t they? When the two Spartans reached the entrance gate, I walked a little bit further away, and hide behind a huge rock. It’s like a countdown ticking inside of me. Every second it could go down. I kneel behind the rock and set up my rifle, so I can assist the two when they will get surprised. And they will get surprised.

In the exact moment Six get ready to open the gate, the gate explodes and a bunch of Covenant storming out of the building. “Get to cover tiny!” Emile yells. He didn’t even realise that I wasn’t there anymore. “No shit, Sherlock. And who are you calling tiny here.” Is what I whisper to myself, while shooting one by one of the covenants. They are obviously too many to handle, even for two Spartans. Emile doesn’t think so: “What that’s all you got? Bring it on!” He yells while throwing them around like a freaking piñata. “Who’s next! Let’s dance!” He yells and laughs even more, while jumping on three covenants, blasting them to bits. Yeah, he’s nuts - That’s for sure. Six is skilled himself. Not a single enemy can get close enough to him, that he must draw a knife. While Emile on the other hand seems to have a lot of fun using his Kukri knife instead of his shotgun. And it doesn’t take too long and not a single covenant is standing anymore.

As they are about to move into the building, Emile calls over the radio: “You made it to a hiding spot in time?” I answered without even thinking “Sir, I was in a hiding spot already. As I told you, it’s smelly.” I responded. I should have just said yes and we would had no problem. But telling Emile, that I disobeyed an order, was not the smartest idea, because he was clearly not happy about that: “What’d you mean? You just decided to take a stroll around the base or what? Who gave you green lights for running off? Don’t fucking do that ever again! Now stay where you are until we call the building clear!”

After around 10 minutes, he calls over the radio: “This is Noble four. Left entrance clear. We have many soldiers on the ground. Get in here tiny, time to work.” Is all he says. Man, now I’m mad. “He can’t even say my name. And what does he mean, - time to work – I was literally holding his god damn back free, so he can have his fun in the crowd. “Arrogant ass.” I mutter to myself as I’m approaching the building. Entering, I see many soldiers, bad injured. “Ah hell.” I whispered while checking if any are still alive. These soldiers are clearly dead.

Emile was nowhere to be seen. Six came from across the hallway to me. I just shook my head. He let out a sigh and said “Good job. Out there.” He gave me a nod of appreciation. “Thanks Lieutenant. I’m sorry for the soldiers” I sighed and asked “That was the squad we were supposed to meet?” He looked at me and pointed to a door, signing me to follow. “You are right, it was them. It’s now just us. We must get the station online and then bring you to Quezon. With or without ONI.” He explained while walking ahead. Suddenly he stopped, so that I almost bumped into him. I stood behind him, a little confused. “Sir?” I asked quietly. He turned around. “You are a good sniper. For your size, surprisingly. Your senses are excellent as well. Emile said you had a bad feeling and decided to not follow the orders and hid. That’s good. But also, bad. Next time, give clear concerns to the commander. You can’t decide by yourself what to do. Other who are supposed to protect you, will get the consequences.” As he finished, he turned away and continued walking. I felt bad, he was right, but I had to make the decision. To not put the team in danger as they would have focused on protecting me.

“Sir, it won’t happen again.” I said while walking behind him like a stray dog. He chuckled “Good. And good luck with handling Emile. He’s mad.” As he said that, I was not even surprised. I let out a sigh, “Yeah, I deserve that, I guess.” We stopped in front of a big door. Six gave me a slight nudge on the shoulder and entered the room, right away, Emile came out of it. He packed me by the arm and pulled me further along the hallway. He’s probably going to yell at me again. Mentally preparing myself for what will come, he stopped and let go of my arm as we were close to an exit door. Then he turned towards me and pushed a finger against my forehead. “Listen here doll, When I tell you what to do, you shut up and do it. You can’t just leave the spot without telling anyone! Are we clear?” He wasn’t really yelling. Just a little louder, but his finger really hurts on my forehead. I pushed his hand out of my face and took a deep breath. “Yes sir. Won’t happen again.” I said with a serious look on my face to him. He wasn’t done. “Have you an idea how much trouble I get because of that!” Now he started yelling as he came one step closer. I couldn’t even said something, he came one more step closer and continued. “Not only from Carter. If your father finds out I can’t even handle a dwarf like you, I can forget staying in Noble Team.” He came another step closer. As he leaned down, his visor was almost touching my nose. But I didn’t budge. “Tell me Emile” I looked at his skull visor. “Do I look into your eyes right now? Or do I have to look more down or up?” I caught him completely off guard. He spun back and instead of saying anything, he turned on his heels and walked towards the exit door.

“That’s it?” I asked whispering but couldn’t hold back. “Emile.” I called him, he stopped and turned around. “What?” He was so pissed. Good. My face turned into an art of hell as I bit my lower lip to not laugh out loud. Another deep breath: “My belly grumbling, huh? Just admit it, I was right, and you were wrong.” Biting my lip even harder to not laugh out loud I waited for my end. But he just stood there. Saying nothing. Looking in my direction. I messed up, but it was totally worth it. It’s too much fun to piss him off. Until he started stomping towards me. “Oh shit!” I whispered. Should I run away? Too late, he was already right in front of me again. Now pushing me by my shoulders against the wall behind me. He almost threw me at that wall. Hands on my shoulder, his visor right in front of me again and his feet left and right next to mine, he was cornering me completely against that wall.

His voice, deep and filled with flammable anger “Do you wanna die?” He asked slowly. I shook my head light. “Negative, sir.” Only a whisper was what I was able to bring out. He took a breath as if he wanted to say something. But he didn’t. He was just standing there. Looking down on me, holding my shoulders and pressing them against the wall. I looked at him confused. Should I say something? Then he let go of my shoulder, cupping my face with one hand, lifting it even closer to him. With the other hand he pointed to his visor. “I you look there; you look me in the eyes.” I lost my breath at his words. His voice was now calm and soft. He was a completely different person. Nobody said anything anymore. We just looked at each other, standing so close, I swear he could hear my heartbeat.

Suddenly, out of nowhere Jun yelled: “Hey, Emile, get up to the power transmitter and check if the wires are cut! Oh, ah, Okey. Didn’t wanted interrupted. My bad.” He yelled from across the hallway. As he saw what must have looked as we were making out, Jun just left as quickly as he came around. Emile huffed and let go of me. He headed towards the exit. “You stay put. Otherwise...” He scolded. As he walked away. I followed him, as we left the building and climbed the fire stairs to the roof. I got curious. “Otherwise, what?” I asked dumb struck. He stopped in the middle of the stairs and turned around once more. “Otherwise, I’ll bite your head off. Now shut up.” He scolded once again.

Deciding to not bother him any further. I zipped my mouth with my finger and followed him further upstairs. Reaching the transmitter, it was clear that all cables were intact. He gave a radio call to Jun, saying that the cables are fine. I stood at the transmitter and looked at him. Something is weird about him. He’s rude, childish and has immense anger issues. But I can’t shake this feeling off, that I feel like starting to fall for him. How can I fall for someone I just met an hour ago. And who I haven’t even seen the face of.

He’s noble team. They don’t have a long lifespan anyway. And I’m going to earth. So, I will probably never see him again after we parted ways. Makes me a little sad. As I continue starting at him, with every emotion written on my face, I suddenly realised he’s looking back at me. Ah no, he’s going to be mad again. I smiled at him as if tried to convince him that I’m not hiding any drugs, before turning around and looking at the lake next to the facility. He was not saying anything. When I looked back at him, he is still looking at me. I narrowed my eyebrows: “Did you spaced out Emile?” I asked him. He stomped towards me, I was about to move back, but I decided to stand my ground. Would he come that close again? Is he actually starving for physical contact. The life of a Spartan can be lonely. He stopped right in front of me. Only a few inches were in between us. He took a deep breath and asked. “Why would you want to see my eyes?” – “Huh?” with my answer it was clear that I did not expected that. Emile turned away and shook his head. “Never mind.” He said and walked to the stairs.

“Wait.” I run at him and grab him by his hand. Regretting my move, as he looked down at his hand, I let go immediately. “I- am. I just try to understand you. And it’s easier for me when I can look into your eyes.” I smiled shyly and looked away. I was expecting he’d make a joke about me, but instead, he cupped my face with both hands this time, making me to look up at him. “If you be a good little girl and do as I say. I maybe take my helmet off.” Then he let go of me, and walked downstairs laughing his ass off. He made a joke about me.

“What was that?” I asked myself and rushed after him, before I get another scolding. Wait, was he actually flirting with me? With this thought I stopped in front of the door to the building.

“y/n. Station is online. Come to the main entrance.” Carters call over the radio ripped me out of my thoughts. I must stop thinking about Emile. He is just a Spartan. Doing his job. That’s it.

#halo #halo noble team #emile a239 #emile-a239 #carter #jun #jorge #kat #noble six #noble four #noble three #noble five #noble two #noble one #noble team #halo emile #spartan #emile x reader #halo emile a239 #halo fall of reach #fall of reach

[monitorchakas]

Please clap reblog the polls to spread the outreach numbers

#halo books #halobookwar #halo fall of reach #halo the flood #halo first strike #halo shitpost

[scififanpl-blog]

"Halo: The Fall of Reach" by Eric Nylund

“Halo: The Fall of Reach” by Eric Nylund

Halo: The Fall of Reach is the first novel in the Halo series, and it serves as an excellent introduction to the world of the games. Written by Eric Nylund, this book tells the story of the SPARTAN-II program, a top-secret initiative to create a new generation of super soldiers. The protagonist of the story is a young man named John, who is taken from his home at a young age and trained to…

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#Eric Nylund #fall of reach #fall of reach novel #fall of reach vs halo reach #halo fall of reach #halo reach #halo reach lore #halo reach vs fall of reach #halo the fall of reach #halo the fall of reach book review #halo: reach #halo: reach (video game) #halo: the fall of reach #halo: the fall of reach (book) #halo: the fall of reach trailer #planet reach #reach #the fall of reach #the fall of reach book review #the fall of reach novel

[raspberrylmao]

fall of reach plot

#halo #master chief #john 117 #catherine halsey #fall of reach

[halo-adicto]

#halo #halo 4 #master chief #unsc #halo 2 #halo 3 #halo ce #spartan #halo 3 odst #spartan ii #halo reach+ #halo the fall of reach

[halopedia]

22 years ago today, Reach fell for the first time, and Halo had its first-ever media release (even preceding Combat Evolved!) Happy birthday to the book that started it all, Halo: The Fall of Reach!

#halopedia #halowiki #halo wiki #halothefallofreach #halo the fall of reach #thefallofreach #the fall of reach #fall of reach #fallofreach #halobirthday #halo birthday

[doom-dreaming]

High Flakes Combat

“Blue Lead,” Linda’s whisper cuts across TEAMCOM, crisp and several degrees colder than the icy landscape. “Hostiles approaching your position.”

Fred, tucked behind the trunk of a towering pine tree, exhales a slow, measured breath. Waiting. Listening. Without his motion tracker, only the crunch of footsteps in the snow—and Linda—could tell him when their opponents were closing in.

There. Fifteen meters out. He motions to John, positioned behind an adjacent tree. On my signal.

…ten meters…

Cover me. Go high.

…five meters…

John nods. Fred tightens his grip on his weapon.

Now.

As one, they pivot, breaching cover. Fred drops to a knee, attacking swiftly, before their adversary has a chance to retaliate.

The snowball hits Ash directly in the center of his chestplate. Active camouflage flickers briefly, then recalibrates, as the young Spartan crashes dramatically to his knees before sprawling backward, motionless.

Fred doesn’t let the theatrics distract him. The other two had to be nearby and the round wasn’t over until— A snowball whizzes past his head, followed by a sharp curse—out loud, close. He catches a shimmer of white on white as Olivia leaps to find cover and “reload,” but John is faster.

The snowball hits her thigh before she can complete her maneuver and she slides to a dejected halt in a snowbank. “Dammit! Mark!” she calls out. “You’re on your own!”

Fred doesn’t hear a verbal response. He knows he won’t, Mark’s too good to give away his position— Thwap. Fred’s vision goes fuzzy and white as Mark’s snowball connects with his visor, splattering on impact. Fred groans and flashes a red status light across his team’s HUDs. He’d be out until the next round.

“He’s on the move!” Linda barks over the comms.

Fred folds himself cross-legged into the snow and wipes his visor clean just in time to see Kelly bounding over a nearby ridge, clutching a snowball in each fist.

“I’ve got him!” She goes streaking across the snow toward a barely-visible figure—also sprinting.

Mark wouldn’t be able to outrun Kelly—a fact Fred knew the S-III was well aware of—but he was certainly trying his best.

Kelly nails Mark with both snowballs, one in the shoulder, the other in the back. He stumbles just enough that Kelly’s momentum sends her into him at full force. The clack of their colliding armor echoes like a shot as both Spartans go tumbling to the ground, sending up a minor flurry in their wake.

“Aaaaaaaand match!” Roland’s voice rings out over the simulation deck, followed by a buzzer. “Blue Team takes the win!”

“Again,” Olivia grumbles, pushing to her feet and dusting snow off her armor.

“It’s three against four,” Ash reminds her, still lying on his back a few feet from Fred.

Olivia crunches her way over and offers him a hand. “Can we make Kelly sit out the next round?”

“If you’re not having fun, leave,” John quips.

“Or maybe you should switch Kelly to our team and see how it feels,” Livi bites back, helping Ash haul himself to his feet.

“Fighting over me?�� Kelly rejoins the group with Mark close behind. “I’m flattered.”

Fred chuckles. It was good to see Olivia trading barbs with John. The Gammas had warmed up to him quickly—and he to them—and it wasn’t hard to understand why. Fred was sure the S-IIIs had given him some new streaks of gray hair, but at the same time, they made him feel younger. He hoped they were having the same effect on John.

“So…” drawls a familiar voice, raised just loud enough to carry, “this is the reason my fireteams can't train today? A snowball fight.”

Every Spartan in the simulated snowscape whips toward the entrance. Commander Palmer stands at the far edge of the scene, arms crossed. She looks odd and out of place, a lone figure in a techsuit against the stark white surroundings, but no less intense than usual.

“Thought we’d try something different from the typical drills, ma’am,” Fred coughs. He’s not sure why he feels guilty; they’d requested the time and blocked out the schedule and followed protocol…even if they hadn’t said precisely what they’d be doing…

Before anyone else has a chance to speak, a snowball goes sailing over Fred’s shoulder, on a collision course for Palmer. She’s too far away to hit, but the aim is dead-accurate and it lands with a wet plap several yards directly in front of her.

Even at this distance, Fred sees her eyes narrow. The vague guilt solidifying in his gut crystallizes into ice. He knows who threw that and he’s already, reflexively, preparing for the necessary damage control—and for Linda, no less. Kelly he was used to, but Linda?

Palmer shifts her weight and fixes the seven of them with a hard stare that lasts long past the point of being uncomfortable. “Don’t go anywhere,” she eventually orders, leveling a finger in their direction. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.” Without leaving any opportunity for rebuttal, she turns on her heel and swiftly disappears from the deck.

Immediately, Linda’s status light starts blinking rapid-fire green across Blue Team’s HUDs. Kelly follows suit.

“Really?” Fred grumps over TEAMCOM.

“Can you blame her if it worked?” Kelly retorts.

“Yes! You’re making an assumption and setting a bad example.” He switches to his helmet’s speakers. “Gammas, don’t throw things at your commanding officers.”

“Unless you’re sleeping with them,” Kelly adds, with enough tact to keep the comment on Blue Team’s private channel.

Another green light from Linda.

Fred willfully ignores both of them.

“...we’re not in trouble, are we?” Ash removes his helmet and shakes out his hair. “To be honest…I don’t know what just happened.”

Kelly seats herself on a tree stump, legs akimbo, smugness oozing from every seam of her armor. “Palmer’s getting suited up to come play with us.”

Ash seems unconvinced but Mark shrugs. “She’ll balance the numbers. We might even start winning.”

Only Blue Team can see—and appreciate—the red light John flashes in silent response.

**********

As threatened, Palmer returns exactly ten minutes later, fully armored aside from the helmet tucked into the crook of her arm. “Okay, here’s the official story.” She strides up to the group. “We’re running an unorthodox but fully sanctioned training exercise all day.”

“I’ve cleared the schedule and put out an open invitation,” Roland chimes in. “As requested.”

Palmer nods her approval. “Figured I’d let you have your fun on the condition that the rest of us could get in on it too.” She raises an eyebrow. “Sound fair?”

“Fair enough,” Fred answers, echoing the array of green lights on his HUD. “Alright. Ground rules—we’re running blind for this, Commander. No motion trackers.”

She looks pleased. “I like a challenge.”

“If you get hit, you’re out for the round,” he continues. “Once you’re out, you can’t help anyone still standing. Round ends when a whole team goes down.” Fred nods toward the ceiling. “Roland’s keeping score.”

“Huh,” Palmer hums. “So you knew about this, too, Roland?”

“I…was informed the exercise would require a scorekeeper instead of a handler,” the AI answers, somehow managing to achieve the verbal equivalent of tip-toeing. “And I volunteered a mere fraction of my copious attention to the task.”

Palmer just rolls her eyes.

Ash clears his throat and steps forward. “If you wouldn’t mind, ma’am, we’d greatly appreciate it if you joined our team.”

“They’ve been wiping the floor with us,” Olivia adds, somewhat ruefully.

Palmer looks back and forth between Blue Team and the Gammas with a hint of a smirk. “Well.” She slips her helmet on. “Allow me to level the playing field.”

**********

And indeed, the tide began to turn. Quickly. It wasn’t that the Gammas couldn’t hold their own, but Palmer was a different flavor of ruthless and even numbers did make a difference.

Kelly, as Blue Team’s sole survivor, was in the midst of a valiant stand, but she was up against Palmer and Olivia and they were going in for the kill. Up to this point, Kelly had been relying on her speed to evade them, but Fred doubted that would be able to carry her any further.

Palmer and Livi split around the back of the snowbank Kelly had hidden behind, falling into synchronized step with each other, timing their paces perfectly. Palmer’s boots fall heavier and louder, covering Olivia’s near-silent glide around the other side.

The strategy is obvious, at least from Fred’s position of passive observation—Palmer would draw Kelly’s attention, Olivia would come up on her flank and take her out. And it would work, too…on anyone less observant than Kelly. Fred has a feeling she’ll see right through it. But one of them was going to hit her either way, so it didn’t really matter as far as the outcome was concerned.

Surprisingly, a third option presents itself. Fred realizes after a few seconds that he’s been holding his breath, expecting Kelly to explode out of the snow and make a run for it, but…she doesn’t.

Palmer reaches the other side of the snowdrift and slows, confusion evident in her body language. She paces around the area, making sure not to stay still for too long, obviously reluctant to let her guard down completely. Fred can see the hazy mirage of Olivia’s SPI suit still moving in with careful deliberation.

There was no way Kelly could have moved. She hadn’t had enough time. More importantly, she would’ve been spotted if she’d tried to flee, so why couldn’t—

Palmer disappears. One second, she’s standing on the other side of the snowbank, visible from the waist up, and the next second she’s gone. Fred can’t see much of anything, but there are sounds of a scuffle and the blur of camouflaged armor as Livi sweeps in to assist with whatever the hell had just happened.

Barely a breath later, Roland announces the end of the match. “And Gammas-Plus-Palmer emerge victorious! …or should I say Olivia, specifically, seeing as she is the last Spartan standing. You know, you really oughta come up with a better name for your team—”

There’s a burst of indignant exclamations and flustered cursing from Palmer. She reappears only to rip her helmet off and kick some snow back in the direction from which she’d escaped.

Olivia removes her own helmet; Fred is surprised to see her laughing. “She got you good!” There’s a giddiness in her voice that Fred’s never heard before, but she seems to remember who she's talking to a moment later. “...ma’am.”

Kelly pops up beyond the ridge. She remains helmeted but Fred knows there’s a shit-eating grin on her face just from her posture alone.

“What happened?” He shouts the question out loud.

“She buried herself in the fucking snow and pulled my legs out from under me,” Palmer growls as she trudges over.

“And then I hit Kelly point-blank in the face!”

Olivia’s gleeful comment is backed by Kelly’s laughter over TEAMCOM. “Worth it.”

“Hey!” A different voice cuts into the conversation, once again pulling everyone’s attention toward the entrance. “Heard there was some kinda free-for-all goin’ on in here?” Gabriel Thorne stands flanked by the rest of Fireteam Majestic, all in full Mjolnir. “Got room for another team?”

Palmer waves them in. “Come on up, Majestic. We’ll get you briefed on the rules.” She sighs and fits her helmet back on. “Hope you’re ready to get your asses kicked.”

**********

An hour later, after Majestic had carved out a few victories of their own, Crimson shows up. Rules are recounted, home bases are realigned, play resumes. Within another two hours, there are four more Spartan fireteams on the field. Alliances are formed, both openly and secretly. Several hours are devoted to building snow forts. Play evolves. Forts are defended and captured, sabotaged and reinforced.

And then Lasky arrives.

“Captain on deck!” Roland bellows.

The silence that blankets the simulation deck is instantaneous and absolute. Nobody moves. If the snowballs already in flight could have frozen in midair, they probably would’ve. Instead, they land in a chorus of muffled thwumps.

Lasky stands there for a few seconds, small and unimposing by the distant doors, sporting his trademark expression of beleaguered amusement—presumably at being called out. “Don’t stop on my account,” he eventually says. “I just wanted to watch. …unless there’s a team looking for a liability,” he jokes with a self-deprecating chuckle.

Everyone on the field exchanges glances and shrugs. A sea of status lights blink across Fred’s HUD—most amber, some green. Finally, someone from Crimson waves Lasky over. “We’ll take you, Captain!”

He seems genuinely surprised by the invitation, but begins the trek across the snow. “Try not to kill me, alright?”

That draws laughs from most of the Spartans, but it’s John who actually banters back. “No promises, sir.”

#halo #my writing #halo fanfic #s2blueteam #sarah palmer #fred 104 #ash g099 #olivia g291 #kelly 087 #just tagging characters with the most screen time bc Everybody is here #also don't ask me when this takes place #bending the timeline to my will #everyone's here at the same time and that's what matters #mainly i just wanted to write something cute and let them have some playtime #this was somewhat prompted by the exchange in the fall of reach that haunts me #where kelly mentions snowballs #and john gets salty because she puts rocks in them #IMPLYING THEY HAD A SNOWBALL FIGHT AT SOME POINT #can you imagine mendez like 'you know what these little war machines need? Snow Time' #anyway happy holidays #also yeah. yes. the title is a shitty pun #that's the kind of person i am #and yes this takes place somewhere in the PSEU (palmer sandwich extended universe)

[ur-haruspis]

INSTALLATION 04 // ALPHA HALO

The inner surface was a mosaic of greens, blues, and browns—trackless desert; jungles; glaciers and vast oceans. Streaks of white clouds cast deep shadows upon the terrain. The ring rotated and brought a new feature into view— a tremendous hurricane forming over an unimaginably wide body of water. Equations scrolled furiously across Cortana as she studied the ring. She checked and rechecked her numbers—the rotational speed of the object and its estimated mass. They didn’t quite add up. She ran through a series of passive and active scans . . . and found something. “Captain,” Cortana said, “the object is clearly artificial. There’s a gravity field that controls the ring’s spin and keeps the atmosphere inside. At this range— and with this gear—I can’t say with one hundred percent certainty, but it appears that the ring has an oxygen- nitrogen atmosphere and Earth- normal gravity.” “If it’s artificial, who the hell built it . . . and what in God’s name is it?” Cortana processed that question for a full three seconds, then finally answered: “I don’t know, sir.” Captain Keyes took out his pipe, lit it, and puffed once. He examined the curls of smoke thoughtfully. “Then we’d better find out.”

#halo #halo: ce #halo: combat evolved #halo 1 #alpha halo #installation 04 #halo: the fall of reach

[vibe-spartan-nostalgia]

#halo #halo lore #halo books #the fall of reach

[empresskadia]

Alright m’dears, I’ve finished Halo: Fall of Reach and officially started Halo: Silent Strike, so prepare for spoilers.

Spoilers ahead

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.

.

First, had no idea Silent Strike was Fred’s point of view, I’m kicking my feet, I’m so excited. I’m only 2 chapters in and Fred’s so precious, he’s just a nervous big little guy that will get the job done. And Kelly, I swear she’s always ready to throw hands, 10/10.

Now, for Fall of Reach, buckle up, it’s a ride.

I won’t lie, it took me a good 4-5 days to read, I had a hard time getting into it. It was good, I loved the development of lore but it wasn’t keeping me on the edge of my seat till the end. Halsey was such an interesting character to read and seeing the way Cortana was later questioning the things her creator did was fascinating. Especially with the Spartan program, like it’s messed up but it did what Halsey said it was going to do. I love the way it explored moral wrong decisions vs the choice that had to be made. Halsey cares for her Spartans but they were made to die for humanity, so does that make her a monster? Or someone with a duty to complete? I can’t remember who said it in the book but they said something among the lines “someone who didn’t care for them, could’ve been in charge of the project instead of you.” I have thoughts about Halsey that go back and forth.

Sam’s death was sad, like I’m still upset about it. I understand why they killed him off but man, come on. The fact that John couldn’t look back or else he would’ve stayed to die with Sam made me close the book and let out a long sigh, I was so sad for them. But also a huge character development for John and Kelly, I never see anyone talking about Kelly’s character development after this. Personally, I feel like this is why Kelly’s always the first to volunteer, why she’s always thinking so fast and reacting before she fully thinks through some of her actions. I will revise this once I finish Halo: Ghosts of Onyx.

The Keyes loop was interesting and smart as hell but after that I didn’t really care, I loved Keyes in the game and the beginning of the book, but I found him a little boring later. Like where’s Miranda? What about Halsey and Keyes’ love affair? The drama? The tea? Where is it? Like seriously, they got a kid together and nothing, I thought that was weird.

AND LINDA’S DEAD??? I’m sorry, what? I know she lives but I wasn’t really ready for it, I had to close my book and walk away. I did infact shout and hit my coworker with the book in disbelief when it happened. And poor John thinks he’s the only one left, this man’s going through it. Also hate the way James died, that was awful.

I have more thoughts that I can’t remember and will do a reread later with annotations, so there will be a part two when I finish reading all the books. A year later lol.

Thanks for joining my Ted Talk.

#halo series #halo #john 117 #master chief #halo fall of reach #halo silent strike #my thoughts #kadia chatter #linda 058 #kelly 087 #fred 104 #Sam 034 #dr Halsey #jacob keyes #Catherine Elizabeth Halsey #catherine halsey

[justxrandomxlivia]

Masterlist

Warnings: 🌻- fluff, ☔- angst, 🔥- smut, 🔞- lemon, ⚠️- triggerwarning

AN: I take requests for Halo, Call of Duty, Ikemen Vampire, Ikemen Revolution, Dangerous Fellows, TMNT, Transformers, Transformers Prime, Transformers G1, Originals, Haikyuu and Naruto. I don't name all here, you can just as any and I'll let you know if I write for them too. 💖

Call of Duty -> Ghost:

Southern Horns - Ghost x fem!Reader 🌻🔥⚠️ part one

Call of Duty -> König:

König x gn!Reader - are you lost? 🌻

Your new Partner König - König x fem!Reader 🌻🔥 part one two

Halo -> Emile-A239:

Emile x fem!Reader 🌻☔🔥 part one, part two

House of Ashes -> Jason & Salim:

We won't let you fall again (Jason x Salim x fem!reader) 🌻

#halo #halo fall of reach #call of duty #cod ghost #cod könig #halo emile

[pompousspaniard]

Halo sentiments I had to express through memes cause I think I'm funny

Also here's a live feed of me playing Infinite:

And seeing as they're done now, here, rate my spartans lmao: meet "I don't have any cool coatings for it" and "Shadow the Hedgehog"

Ok byeeeeee

#shitpost #gaming #halo #halo infinite #halo infinite mp #the fall of reach #office of naval intelligence #fuck you 343

[lumi-klovstad-games]

Hey, 343. We call "expanded universes" that for a reason.

It also hurt for those of us who actually LIKED Fireteam Osiris and saw potential in the characters. Halo 5 sets up a neat "Brothers in Arms" relationship between Chief and Locke like Chief had with Arbiter in 3, maybe even a little bit of Master & Apprentice, with Locke standing to learn a lot in the days and battles to come from the much older and more experienced Master Chief. But then the next game comes and... wait where is everyone? 343 wants me to buy more books?! A lot of fans already had to buy half a library's worth just to grock Halo 5, and here's 343 repeating that mistake again!

The Halo games really have just become a means by which 343 plugs the Halo novels. "There's a book that explains that" is the constant refrain I hear these days. No. I WANT THE GAMES TO EXPLAIN IT. The games are the only thing literally EVERY Halo fan buys. EXPLAIN IT IN THE GAMES.

I will give the audio logs in Infinite SOME credit for answering SOME questions I had, but mostly it was used to introduce irrelevant subplots that actually WOULD be better as a novel. Escharum doing his damnedest to keep the ragtag and ill-fitting family that are the Banished together with the disappearance of his protege Atriox, a warrior who was like a son to him, knowing full well he doesn't have Atriox's charisma and he can't maintain the cult of personality Atriox cultivated at the core of the Banished in the same way? Or a fireteam of Spartans, feeling lost and surviving without any real support, realizing that they'll likely die one way or another, deciding to risk it all on a single desperate all-or-nothing Hail Mary attempt at cutting the head off the snake, only to fail, with their only monument being their broken bodies, and their armor that Chief has to scavenge for gear with little if any knowledge of what happened to his comrades? These are plots TAILOR MADE for a spin-off novel. But instead a HUGE CHUNK of the total audio logs gets devoted to this kind of stuff, instead of explaining where Blue and Osiris are, if they survived, and setting up a reunion in a later story — you know, something actually relevant to Master Chief's story that connects with the plot players are already familiar with.

I get that 343 wants the Halo Universe to feel like this big connected thing while keeping the "mysterious" feel of the original trilogy, but for 343 that takes the form of locking players out of the loop: deny the players critical information necessary to understanding characters or the plot (even if the players can operate without that information) and then demand they cough up $8-15 a pop to gain access to that information (or just wait until Halopedia editors inevitably do). What they keep forgetting is that the original trilogy told players everything they needed to know as the game naturally progressed. The Bungie novels were interesting and sundry, but nothing they related was essential — not even The Fall of Reach (often considered the most important book in the expanded universe) was necessary to understand anything in the games proper. And then, when Bungie actually made a GAME about Reach, they made a point to showcase a separate cast of characters on a different part of the planet, playing a different role in the battle, with an entirely different team dynamic, all for the express purpose of keeping it so that the book wasn't essential to understanding what was going on. That's the secret that 343 just doesn't get: keep the books interesting, but keep them at arm's length — the GAME should tell the players everything they need to know.

More than game mechanics or graphics, if 343 can learn to tell stories in the games the way Bungie did, and learn to keep the books away from the games, then that alone will MASSIVELY improve Halo's appeal and bring back much of what was lost.

#video games #halo #halo infinite #343 industries #halo 5 #halo 4 #halo reach #the fall of reach #master chief #spartan locke #Bungie #expanded universe #blue team #fireteam osiris #the arbiter #microsoft game studios

[thelvadams]

unpopular opinion but halo season 2 looks good

#more serious tone? new showrunner? focusing on the fall of reach? i'm in #i still think the first season had it's moments but some people aren't ready to hear that yet #also psa: 'chief isn't wearing his helmet' is not a legitimate criticism. hope this helps #halo #halo tv #halo paramount

[raspberrylmao]

“it sounded exactly like an owl. i was just drawing you out of cover.” john stop this madness pls

#halo #master chief #john 117 #fall of reach