The Corruption: Origins news

The Corruption:
Book 1: Origin

The year is 2008, another Tuesday in February for the people of America. Little does the world know that this day would start a series of events that would eventually lead to eternal peace for not just this planet but for millions, and it all starts here...
The United States stands as the greatest superpower the world has ever seen. Sadly with the terrible economy caused from past mistakes has caused it to drag the world down. With the so-called ‘War on Terror' going on it has caused some momentum for the world powers but it will not last. In Washington D.C. President George Bush sits within his office in the White House. Signing papers and thinking over of who will take office after his last term here has kept him busy for several days now. Then a great flash of blue light occurs in the sky, George notices this but can't see what caused it. His assistant runs into his office and yells, "Mr. President! Sir, something big just happened!" George turns from his papers and looks him in the eye. "What? That flash was a terrorist attack? Wouldn't surprise me, they've had nukes for several years now..." The assistant goes up to Bush's desk, "No sir! This is much bigger! Look outside!" Bush stands up from his desk and looks out the window, he is struck with shock and awe. "Dear god what is that..." The blue flash wasn't a terrorist attack, for over Earth was something so massively shocking most thought they had lost their mind, what was now over Earth was... the Halo ring....

Several days after the ring appeared, the global leaders meet to discuss what to do with it... "I SAY WE DESTROY IT!" yelled the Japanese representative. "No we should colonize it!" screamed the Canadian representative. The UN building was bustling with screams and demands over the fate of the ring. The American representative then yelled, "Order! Order! We are not savages! We will debate on this like the Greeks would have, with a vote." "Yes!" "Yes! "A vote!" The American representative then took the main stand, "Those in favor of destroying the ring cast your votes." They pressed a button and submitted their votes. "And those who wish to colonize cast your votes." The others did the same. "Alright lets see who gets it..." A large monitor showed the vote numbers. "Alright colonization
gets it. Lets get a man on the ring!"

Within the year a joint global effort by the UN to make a manned mission to the ring was underway, a large craft was to be launched from Russia to the ring. Within the craft were the best-trained explorers, scientists and pilots the world had to offer. Overall the craft had over 50 crewmembers.

At the Siberian launch site the world watches as the large craft, named the Heaven Ship, readied for final countdown. A loud voice rang from the intercom system, "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one... launch!" The large craft then activated its engines. Flames bursted from it, after a few seconds it gained lift and so begun the mission to the ring...

The mission was a startling success, not only did the entire crew go to and from the ring as planned, they discovered it is almost exactly like Earth. This began a global event similar to the miners of the Gold Rush. All countries with the resources began sending colony ships in hopes of gaining territory and resources from this untapped land. A year into this had proven to be fruitful. By 2010 Halo had an estimated 30 individual colonies. The most successful colonies were Halo City, a large sprawling city with several thousand citizens roughly considered the capital of Halo, and Metropolis, a huge industrial park with millions of factories and sectors including Metropolis Chemical Plant and Metropolis Oil Ocean Refinery, but this would be short lived. The major powers sent troops to fight over who got what territories after several disputes concerning a mistranslation, but this was only the beginning of problems. While fighting occurred several Japanese miners accidentally discovered a huge underground structure and had disappeared. Shortly after the first reports of undead mutants surfaced to the warring powers. At one point the creatures overran Halo City, but the American 18th recon unit reclaimed it. It seemed as if the more people killed, the more creatures there were, they were called "The Flood" due to the seer unstoppable numbers they possessed. By late 2014 the UN took action and began sending thousands of troops up to the ring to push back the undead hordes. A few days after the New Year in 2015, the Flood had been pushed back to an island, called Flood Island, with a large ancient structure. With the final push in hand it seemed victory would be
feasible....

Fredrick shifted in his seat; his old back had gotten stiff from sitting in the same position for that long. He then yelled, "Nathan! Get me and our guests a glass of water please." A voice then replied, "Yes dad!" A young man with brown hair and blue eyes stepped in, he was wearing an Allied Mechanic uniform, he had a tray with several glasses of ice water, as he put several glasses on the table for the Fernians, one in particular caught his eye. The one named Blaze had his attention, almost as if love had struck him. He didn't say or show it but she could tell. He walked back to the kitchen to continue listening to his dad's story. Silver took a drink from the glass and asked, "So, when will we get to the part with our dad?" Fredrick drank from the glass and said, "Oh yes right... now on to the most important characters of my story... Brandon and Hunter..." Silver then said, "Our dad!" Fredrick replied, "I'll get to it boy, now calm down..."

The battle of Flood Island had begun, gunfire echoed from the blood stained beach. UN troops hid behind large concrete slabs to survive Flood gunfire. One such soldier was dazed and confused. He had dark brown hair and hazel eyes; he was also of American Caucasian decent, born in Tennessee. He had just seen his platoon slaughtered by the creatures and was trying to regain himself. It didn't help matters that the same fate had happened to his family before his eyes in Halo City. From this confusion he had forgotten what he was doing. He then though, "Wait, what was I doing again... oh right fighting Flood. Come-on Hunter pull it together, you're a Lieutenant not a grunt... " Hunter stood up and fired his M-16 at the combat forms firing back. He then ducked to his cover and reloaded. Several Cobra gunships flew over and peppered the combat forms to make way for the M-60 tanks. A combat form fired a RPG at one of the Cobras, sending it into a death-spin. Hunter then said, "This is madness!" He then saw two other soldiers cowering behind another slab. One had a dirty blonde colored hair and was also white. He was just as confused as Hunter was. The other had brown hair and a cut under his right eye. Hunter ran up to the soldiers, "What are your names!" The first said, "I'm Private Brandon Dutton." The second said, "I'm Corporal Jiles!" Hunter then turned to the combat forms and said, "Alright you two are with me! Lets move!" The three ran up the beach firing their M-16's at the Flood defenders, men from other slabs joined in the assault. M-60 tanks rolled up with the troops, supporting them with their cannons and machineguns. The Flood soon broke and pulled back, Hunter, Brandon and Jiles pursued. The combat forms retreated to the large structure. Hunter then yelled, "Set C-4 charges on the door supports, let's trap them in there!" Several UN troops put the charges on the doorway. "Alright! Ceya in hell!" yelled Hunter as he pressed the detonator. The resulting explosion destroyed the door and sealed it up. With that pathway sealed the Flood were now confined to the Halo underground. Hunter then yelled, "Victory!" Then in the sky a huge burst of blue light engulfed Halo. When the men looked up Earth was gone, the stars all looked different and in Earth's place was a large bluish planet. Halo has disappeared. Then, almost like fate rubbing it in, a transmission came on the soldier's com channel. "This is Randal Dutton! The time has come to rise up against the oppressors of the UN. Join me in our rebellion to create the United Colonies of Halo!"...