Chapter 1 - The Sacred Ring

Ninth Cycle, 28 units (Covenant Battle Calendar) / Aboard Assault Carrier Seeker of Truth, Soell system.

Halo was gone.

A tremendous flash of light erupted on the surface of the ring-shaped megastructure that was Installation 04. For a moment, it appeared as if a miniature star had ignited between the gas giant Threshold and its moon.

An enormous shockwave swept through the ringworld, compromising the structural integrity of the massive construct; a moment later the installation shattered into several large fragments. As the illumination from the explosion, silent in the vacuum of space, subsided, a massive chunk of the ring launched from the epicenter of the detonation was thrown across the expanse of space.

This fragment collided with another section of the megastructure, and the chunks shattered into smaller pieces that spiraled off into space. Silent explosions and flames continued to spread across the remains of the installation as they tumbled through space.

A single human fighter zoomed away from the carnage; however, this sole survivor went unnoticed by those who watched in stunned silence as the Halo ring, the most sacred of all their gods' artifacts, and the means of their ascension, lay broken before them.

Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadamee watched the holographic display on the bridge of his assault carrier Seeker of Truth. The Sangheili's eyes were unblinking, and his mandibles hung slightly open as he watched the remnants of the lost Halo ring drift through space and his mind attempted to come to terms with the extent of the blasphemy that had been committed.

The large bridge, normally alive with noise, was unnaturally quiet as every being in the room gazed in stunned silence upon the sight of the greatest transgression ever committed against their Covenant

The Covenant had stood on the cusp of achieving what they had sought out to do over a millennia ago, and it had been stolen from them at the last moment; the holy ring desecrated by the humanfilth. For almost thirty years the Covenant had embarked on a holy war against the humans, who's very existence had been declared an affront to their religion by the Hierarchs for their vile destruction of holy Forerunner artifacts.

Thel's Fleet of Particular Justice had reduced countless human colonies to glass over the course of the conflict, but the creatures had infested unprecedented numbers of worlds. Despite this, Thel was certain that they were coming close to eradicating the human scourge once and for all.

His greatest victory had come at the human fortress world of "Reach". At the head of a massive, combined fleet of Covenant warships, Thel had led his forces against the might of the human fleet and orbital defense platforms protecting the planet. The battle had been glorious, and while the humans had put up more of a fight than was typical of their species, the Covenant's victory was assured. All human resistance had been crushed, and the Covenant moved to purify the planet's surface as they had done so many times before.

As most of the Covenant's ships moved to carry out the planet's purification, Thel had moved the Fleet of Particular Justice to the system's periphery to prevent the escape of any fleeing human ships. When a single human cruiser was detected attempting to escape from the system, he had immediately initiated pursuit, following the human vessel into slipspace.

Due to their innate technological superiority, Thel's fleet had arrived at the Soell system before the human ship, and he had immediately recognized the massive ringworld suspended between the gas giant and its moon as one of the prophesied Sacred Rings. Thel had arranged his fleet in a defensive formation to prevent the human ship from touching down on the Halo.

Due to interference from the fleet's Minor Prophet, who had forbidden his ships from firing upon the human vessel, the humans had been able to land on the sacred ring and take root, forcing the Covenant into a long ground-based conflict which had seen the Covenant sustain heavy losses. These casualties were in large part due to the presence of one of the human's armored demons, previously believed to have all perished on their fortress world.

For a moment, the Sangheili was drawn into a distant memory from many years prior, when he had faced a demon in personal combat and learned that he was evenly matched with a human. As quickly as the thought had manifested, he banished it as his mind returned to the present.

Following the release of the Flood, the situation had become unwinnable and Thel had ordered the remnants of his fleet away from the ring. Knowing the grave threat that the parasite represented should it escape from the ring; he had focused his forces on halting its spread. Unfortunately, this meant that the human's demon had managed to overload their crashed vessel's reactor, which had destroyed Halo.

Stewardship.

It took the Supreme Commander all his power not to spit the word out as he pondered his current situation. So much of what had gone wrong during this conflict had been a result of the San'Shyuum's meddling. Were it not for the Prophet of Stewardship's interference, Thel was confident that the humans would never have survived to make landfall on the holy ring, thus preventing the whole chain of unfortunate events.

The wretch had consistently demonstrated throughout the conflict that he was unfit to steward a single levy of Unggoy. How could he be the one to lead the Covenant on the path to transcendence?

The Sangheili felt a small pang of happiness despite his predicament: at least that meddlesome Prophet had perished during the battle.

Thel knew that his failure to safeguard the holy ring would be seen by the Hierarchs as the gravest of all transgressions. He knew that his days were numbered. His death would be demanded by the entire Covenant, and his end was likely to be agonizingly painful and humiliating. The Vadam lineage would be wiped out; their thousands of years of accomplishments trampled upon and forgotten in the face of such a grand failure.

In truth, there was little he could do now save for scan the debris field for survivors, complete his report for the Prophet of Truth, and await his punishment with as much honor as he could muster.


Unbeknownst to both the human and Covenant survivors of the destruction of Installation 04, another being had survived the events on the doomed ringworld.

This survivor slowly drifted through the void, moving past pieces of the once-grand piece of astroengineering, some smaller in size than itself and others as large as cities.

This entity was not a creature of flesh and blood, rather an advanced artificial intelligence possessing knowledge that was far beyond the comprehension of most mortal organisms. A small spherical object concave on three sides, with an illuminated photoreceptor on the front of the orb which glowed a soft blue; the monitor propelled itself gently through the debris of the installation before turning around and observing the scene. The construct's eye glowed brighter as it spoke.

"Quite unacceptable".

343 Guilty Spark was still processing all that had occurred in the past revolution. He had been maintaining his installation as per his directives, keeping it safe and ensuring that the specimens of the virulent Flood parasite contained deep within remained contained. He had performed his duties to the letter for the last 100,000 years since the firing of the Array. A massive expanse of time spent without a single breach of quarantine.

This had all changed when the Reclaimers arrived at his installation. Although he had attempted to hail the human ship, it had unfortunately made a rather inelegant landing on the surface of his ring, evidently a result of the damage sustained by their enemy – a coalition of species calling themselves 'the Covenant'.

These interlopers seemed determined to interfere with the installation's systems. In their blatant ignorance of protocol, the meddlers had ended up releasing the Flood onto the surface of the ringworld.

Most of the interloper species had proven vulnerable to infection, and with access to new biomass and technology, the Flood had been able to overwhelm the installation's security systems.

Unfortunately, the armored Reclaimer that he had settled on had proven most uncooperative. Its construct had seized the installation's Activation Index, proceeding to destroy the phase pulse generators necessary to activate the ring and concluding their gross defiance of protocol by destroying Halo by way of a reactor overload from their crippled vessel.

While baffled by the Reclaimer's disregard for protocol, he was forced to admit that the human's solution had successfully stopped the Flood outbreak which had by that point spiraled well out of control.

Guilty Spark started to scan the area. He detected a human single ship disappearing into the debris field; it was clear to Spark that this was the Reclaimer. Several interloper ships were also still present in the system, evidently having used the gas giant Threshold as shelter to survive the ring's destruction.

His scan soon picked up a gas mining facility suspended in Threshold's upper atmosphere. One of several of such facilities above the planet, 343 Guilty Spark had personally overseen the refitting of this mine into a Flood research facility by the Forerunners tens of thousands of years prior.

During the conflict on his installation, the monitor had observed the Covenant deploy a force to the gas mine that he intended to visit. Now very aware of the interlopers' meddlesome tendencies, he intended to visit the mine to ensure that the Flood specimens contained within had not broken quarantine as they had on Installation 04.

While he had failed to ensure the preservation of his greatest charge, the gas mine was still under his jurisdiction and so, after a small huff of indignance, 343 Guilty Spark made his way towards the gas mine.


Sesa 'Refumee watched the viewscreen impassively. While his body language did not betray his emotions, the Sangheili warrior was horrified by what he saw.

The long sought-after holy ring now lay in fragments scattered across space, forever denied to his people by the humans. With each piece of the formerly grand installation that drifted off into the void, Sesa felt as though a part of him was lost forever.

To stand on the precipice of the Great Journey and have it denied galled him to the core.

He had stood helpless, unable to act while his fellows perished on the surface of the ring due to the orders he had been given by the Prophet of Stewardship. The San'Shyuum had commanded him to lead his team to the gas mine on which he now stood upon.

The platform was clearly of Forerunner origin, and the team were to document their findings and secure any artifacts of value to the Covenant. Despite this being a command from the Prophet, and its holy nature, Sesa had felt that his place was on the surface of the ring, fighting the human scourge that even in the face of their extinction still chose to fight back.

These dark thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of his second in command, Loka 'Bandolee, a warrior of whom Sesa had come to respect. A fearsome warrior, 'Bandolee had met Sesa many years ago and the two had grown close, forging a bond through a number of hard-fought battles. The Sangheili was not alone; beside him floated a small spherical construct with a glowing blue core. Sesa's eyes widened as he realized the significance of this newcomer.

"Glorious day!" He exclaimed. "The Prophets will be pleased that we have rescued an Oracle from the human's violation of the Holy Temple."

Sesa could scarcely believe their good fortune. Before him was an instrument left behind by the Forerunners, who had embarked on their Great Journey eons ago, elevating themselves to godhood. It was the goal of the Covenant to follow in their footsteps by finding and activating the seven sacred rings which would propel them on the Journey as their forefathers had done before.

The Oracles had been left behind to impart the knowledge of the Forerunners to the faithful, and through their teachings and sacred truths, the Covenant would acquire the knowledge of their forefathers and embark on their own Great Journey, joining the Forerunners in paradise.

Perhaps now, hope was not completely lost.

"Why do you keep calling it a 'temple?'" the Oracle's blue photoreceptor glowed as it spoke. "My installation was a weapon, and one which we needed very, very badly."

Sesa tensed with shock. He could not believe the words he was hearing. After a moment, he spoke, "But Oracle, I do not understand. We were told the rings are salvation; a gateway to paradise."

"Told? By whom?" The construct floating before Sesa sounded genuinely confused by his words. "Anyone who told you that is a fool or quite, quite mad. That installation was a beautiful tool, designed to destroy everything the Flood might feed on."

Sesa continued to stand in stunned silence. The words met his ears would normally be considered the deepest of sacrilege. But this was a holy Oracle, created by the glorious Forerunners to shepherd the Covenant as they sought the Path. He was sure they would not lie. As he pondered this new information, the Sangheili warrior felt an icy cold grip his entire body.

"Everything?" He managed to say.

"Oh, quite everything," the Oracle continued. "And if even one Flood spore survived the destruction of my ring…"

"Communications: shut down all lines to the fleet," Sesa cut in, turning to one of his warriors who stood nearby. Every occupant in the chamber had been silent during his interaction with the Oracle. "We will not notify the Prophets of our discovery until I hear everything this Oracle has to say."

Sesa began to feel a distinct sense of dread. The Oracle's words ran completely counter to everything he, along with every other loyal subject of the Covenant had been brought up to believe. The Hierarchs preached of the Great Journey that all the Covenant's faithful would take upon the discovery of the holy rings. This belief was the core tenet of the entire empire. But now, with the words he had heard first-hand from one of the Forerunner's own creations…

He needed to hear more; needed to ascertain that the Oracle had not been tampered with in some way. If what it was saying was true, the entire purpose of his Covenant was now in doubt.

"I will gladly share what I am permitted, but we have little time," the Oracle chirped. "What has been unleashed here could destroy everything you have ever known."

That cold feeling returned; the Oracle was referring to the Flood.

"On that, Oracle, we are in agreement."


Sova 'Baothee marched down one of the gas mine's many labyrinthine corridors, the component pieces of a portable Shade cannon in his hands. Like the rest of his fellow warriors, he had watched and listened for over a unit as the Oracle had revealed the truth to them.

The Covenant in which he had believed wholeheartedly in for his entire life had been revealed to have been founded on lies concocted by their 'glorious' Hierarchs. The revelation that the rings were not the divine instruments that would propel them to godhood as prophesized by the San'Shyuum but rather galactic superweapons created by the Forerunners to wipe out the Flood and all sentient life on which the parasite fed on… it had been almost too much for the young Sangheili to hear.

The Forerunners were gone, not through any act of 'transcendence' but rather in a final desperate bid to stop the Flood. They had undoubtedly been a powerful and advanced civilization, as evidenced by the power of the Halo rings, but they had never become gods as the Covenant's leaders had claimed.

The empire's billions of adherents had been made to believe in the greatest of lies. Lied to, swindled by false promises made by those in the highest positions of the hierarchy in order to preserve their power. White hot fury pulsed through Sova's body; a feeling no doubt shared by the others spread across the station.

Unable to disprove what the Oracle had told them and realizing the breadth of the Hierarch's duplicity, 'Refumee had officially declared their secession from the Covenant. He had resolved to broadcast what he had learned to the rest of the Covenant, with hopes in swaying more to his cause.

The commander knew the risk of doing this: such a 'heretical' proclamation would undoubtedly reach the Hierarchs, who would waste no time in dispatching forces to silence him. In order to prepare for this eventuality, 'Refumee had ordered his forces to fortify the entire gas mine in preparation. Across the station, Sangheili and Unggoy prepared barricades, assembled emplacements and distributed weapons.

'Refumee had also dispatched a small unit of troops led by 'Bandolee to the nearby moon to establish a base; a large maelstrom was brewing in the atmosphere below the mine and the commander wished to relocate to the moon should the storm threaten the facility.

For the moment, the group needed to prepare for the assault from the Covenant they knew was sure to come.

Sova emerged onto a platform, just one of many such structures that dotted the exterior of the gas mine. Like the rest of his comrades, he was equipped with a respirator and goggles that allowed him to breathe despite the atmosphere of the gas giant.

He felt the strong winds of the storm below tugging at him as he assembled the Shade cannon. These Shades were more portable and lightweight in construction than other models within the Covenant's vast arsenal, with a minimalist frame suspended on an antigravity mount. The cannon itself boasted impressive firepower, and protection was provided by a frontal energy shield, not unlike the handheld gauntlets used by the Kig-Yar. Their versatile nature made them easy to assemble and disassemble in a short period of time, something Sova appreciated considering the nature of his unit's situation.

As he assembled the Shade, Sova's mind turned to his brother. Kola 'Baothee was a member of the Covenant's Ranger forces, a role in which he served with distinction. Sova was determined to contact his brother and share the truths that he had learned. If Kola could join him, the alliance would gain a powerful ally, but more than anything Sova wanted to save him from the Prophet's lies.

He could not stand the fact that his brother remained an unwitting slave to an organization founded and based on lies. But he himself had been in the same position until this very day. His mind still raced with the enormity of the truths that his eyes had been opened to. There was a lot of work to do.

In time, Sova hoped that enough of the Covenant could be turned against their scheming Hierarchs that the entire organization could be toppled.

It was a massive task, a gargantuan one, but Sova was willing to give it his all. The die was cast, and Sova stood ready.


Author's note: After many long years away from this site I have returned. Rather than returning to my old fanfiction, the Arbiter's Tale, which is incomplete and still up... for now, I have decided to take a stab at an even greater mission - a full-sized novelization of Halo 2! I'm a sucker for well-written novelizations of video games I like and as of yet I have not found anything out there for Halo 2 that's complete, so I thought I'd take a shot at it. I did read Peptuck's attempt at this, but he only got a few chapters in before stopping... over a decade ago! So, heck, I'll give it a go. In fact, his work kind of inspired this and I don't think I'll be able to hold a torch to a veteran writer like that buut I'll try. I might integrate bits of my other fic into this and if I do, I'll take down the old fic as it'll be superseded by this one. The old one is very dated and was wrote when I was still in/transitioning out of high school. I'm 25 now... so yeah, a bit of a time gap haha. I do work full time so updates might be sparse, but I do hope to try and persevere with this. All feedback and constructive criticism welcome. Thanks everyone!

In addition, thanks to the awesome critique by Hawki, I have gone back through the chapter and touched it up somewhat. By this I mean I've cut out a lot of the extraneous unnecessary detail and summarized stuff more concisely. Hopefully this makes for a better read rather than tedium lol.