HALO 2: Threatening stars

Clouds of dirt and brick fragments fill the air, ricocheting off of armour plates and shattering visors. Pvt. Dodgshon is running full speed towards what he hopes will be good cover from the advancing horde.

He slams into the brick work of the wall, rolling back slightly as he realises he’s landed on a fallen trooper’s dead body. He pulls himself onto his knees and edges close to the wall, trying to pull his head into his body as he does so.

Plasma scoring marks the entire top of his piece of cover, and it’s as if a hail of blue fire is erupting from the sky above him. He lifts his rifle over his head and fires blindly into the horde on the other side of the wall. He hits nothing, but there’s a lull in the fire.

He looks back towards his own lines and sees several troopers screaming at each other and pointing at something beyond the wall. Dodgshon fires blindly over the wall again, and once more receives no return fire. He edges himself closer to the wall, and moves up to look over the top.

Wraiths, their iridescent armour reflecting the sun’s light, are advancing as the Covenant forces pull back. There’s hundreds of them, gliding forward towards the troopers desperately trying to hold Reach. Their barrels raise into the air and they fire their parabolic plasma projectiles as one. Dodgshon stares into the sky as the plasma slowly arcs towards his comrades, blue fire shining in a fully-lit sky. Their impact on the ground is deafening and awesomely destructive.

Dodgshon barely makes it to the ground to shield his face from the blasts. He hears the whirring chaos of approaching Wraiths and screams in pain as the wall he’s hiding behind begins to crumble on top of him. The last things he sees are tiny stars of daylight shining through the collapsed rubble above him. 

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This week's blog was inspired by Halo rather than based on anything particular. I missed this Saturday's update due to a bad soft-shell crab (seriously!). Normal service will resume on Wednesday morning. Thanks.