Well, if you haven't already read any of my previous blog entries then you should likely not care about this one either, but just in case you were interested you can read parts 01, 02, 03 and 04 at your leisure. That being said I will continue with part 05. The focus of this final installment will be possible plot connections to the Halo storyline.

Marathon, er.. Halo Connections:

Taking into account all of the possible unknowns regarding the Halo storyline I feel that the only true suitable scenario for a mod such as this would regard the time directly after the Covenant discover (or vice-versa possibly) humans along the outlying colonies. In this manner there would be less reliance upon Spartans and upper echelon Covenant soldiers.

So far my favorite scenario would entail a small interplanetary group of civil and military humans exploring a few of the outer worlds in search of more habitable environments. In their searching they come across a small moon (one of se7en?) orbiting above a gaseous planet. As they set out to explore the moon they uncover the remains of a civilization. Without the proper means to decipher or interpret what happened to the now abandoned settlement the group decides to gather what information and artifacts they can and take them back to their colony after completing their survey mission(s).

Back upon their ship, one of the crew accidently(?) activiates one of the artifacts, which begins to transmit a subspace signal to an unknown source. As the crew frantically attempts to shut down or at least determine what the signal is transmitting, they decide it would be best to return the artifact to the planet and report directly back to their colony. With little to no mishap the crew reports back to their colony and decides to continue with their survey mission after a short hiatus.

Unbeknown to the crew or colony, the artifact was actually a Forerunner device capable of transmitting the subconscious memories of the user to a recipient across entire galaxies. Consider it an update for genetic memory. Who or what received the message is still unknown.

Eventually along their survey mission, the crew encounters an alien race known as the Covenant. With no prior contact the crew takes an active role in attempting to avoid the attention of the alien vessel and quickly makes a faster-than-light (FTL) jump to their next quandrant of exploration. With their mission almost complete the crew is anxious to get back to their colony. Unfortunately their mission has proven to be quite a failure and only the moon where they discorvered the alien artifact seems to be habitable for long periods of time. Upon completing their mission the crew makes their last FTL jump back towards their colony.

When the crew arrives they discover that the colony has been destroyed entirely. The planet has been scorched and no living thing still resides upon it. Debris in space reveals that all the orbital defenses were destroyed and from the marks upon the surface of the planet it appears that a large planetary strike was conducted from a high orbit above the planet. The crew searches for what details they can discover but nothing remains to tell who or what obliterated the colony. Low on supplies the crew heads for the next colony in the system.

The crew arrives at the next colony and reports all that they viewed upon their arrival at their base colony. Reports are transmitted back to Earth and a large military class vessel is dispatched to conduct further investigations as to the destruction of the colony. A faster scout vessel is also sent to further analzye the alien artifact that was uncovered on the habitable moon.

While investigating the destroyed colony the military vessel is confronted by the Covenant ship. Fearing that the alien vessel was responsible for the attack upon the colony, the captain orders all defensive measures to be raised. A battle ensues and both sides take heavy damage, but not before the colony learns the name and nature of the alien sect known as the Covenant. In an effort to save the ship and his crew along with the vital information pertaining to the Covenant, the captain orders a FTL jump back to their home colony. Although heavily damaged themselves the Covenant ship transmits the human vessel's trajectory back to their base station and begins persuit of their new adversary.

Meanwhile the scout vessel arrived at the moon and began to conduct extensive research concerning the alien artifact. While researching various data archives, the name of an advanced, ancient race continues to surface. The name of this race, roughly translated, means "first ones" or Forerunners. FTL transmissions are dispatched concerning the nature of their discoveries, but the team itself never returns from its mission. It is assumed that the Covenant are responsible for this loss as well.

As the military vessel arrives at their base colony, the planet is set on alert and reinforcements are called in to setup a defensive grid around the planet. The trailing Covenant ship falls into a trap and is destroyed before it can transmit its exact coordinates. Fearing for the safety of the colony, an evacuation is ordered and colonists are sent to a more secure colony network. Military defenses are upgraded and strategic positions are setup in case of further confrontations.

This is where the mod would begin. The initial conflict from the outer colonies against an unknown enemy called the Covenant. In this manner humans would play a much greater role in the battles and a full-scale assault from the Covenant has not directly begun.

I'm sure that the storyline could be elaborated further in the appropriate areas quite easily, but the goal is to attempt to fit this mod design into the existing Halo storyline. An initial struggle against the Covenant seems to be the best resolve in such a case, although a completely new story would be ideal. Any further ideas here would be greatly appreciated.

Well, that about does it for my ramblings on this subject. Feel free to comment and make suggestions as needed. Hopefully you enjoyed reading my blogs. What can I say? I get really bored at work.