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Halo 4: What Happens After Halo 3 by Noah Elkins
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Halo 4: Chapter 1
Date: 21 February 2010, 8:36 pm
Capture
{Cutscene}
The camera pans across space, and many stars are glowing in the blackness. It finally sets onto the Dawn. It is a large frigate, with two sections, one on top of the other. It is more long than it is tall. It zooms into the ship slowly, then cuts to the inner terminal, showing nothing in sight, then fades into the cryo-chamber, where it zooms onto one tube in particular. The top pops open to reveal the upper half of the Master Chief's green armor, gently moving up and down, the last bits of ice melting in the intense heat. He sits up, helmet on, and steps out, cracking his back in the process.
Master Chief: {He grunts}
Cortana's female avatar appears; it is blue, flowing with numbers and other mathematical symbols.
Cortana: Good morning, sleepyhead.
The Chief stands up on the flat, white-tiled ground and sets eyes with Cortana.
Master Chief: I was flash-unfrozen.
Cortana: Yeah. We need to get moving.
Master Chief: Cortana, what's the rush?
Cortana: We've been pulled into an unknown planet's atmosphere, and if we don't leave now, we'll be road kill.
Master Chief: Alright. Let's get off this boat.
The chief picks up Cortana's microchip and places it in a slot in his helmet.
The level ends.
Washout
Cortana: {Still on her podium} After the flash-unfreeze, you're new armor probably needs some retesting. Step onto the red square; we're in a hurry.
The Chief steps onto the red square in the ground. Above it is a rectangular mechanism, surging with energy.
Cortana: This'll just test the recharging abilities on your armor.
Now the player is stuck in place as a bar drops down. The bar flashes yellow, and rings of yellow electricity flash around the Chief. The shields drop and then recharge, and the bar goes up, releasing the player. The Chief steps out.
Cortana: Now go over to this square, and look at all of the flashing lights. {After the Chief does} Now I'll put it inverted.
The view changes. Now, when the player scrolls, up is now down, and vice versa.
Cortana: Do you want me to leave it like that or switch it to normal?
The player chooses.
Cortana: Now get to a life pod! Fast!
The Chief runs out of the room through a sliding door glowing green. Cortana continues to pop up on podiums around the ship when the Chief gets near them. The Chief, through the labyrinth of corridors, follows a certain path. After getting out, there is a life pod bay. The Chief gets into one, and a cutscene begins.
{Cutscene}
The Chief puts Cortana in his head, and the life pod ejects. The camera starts in the life pod, showing the Chief leaning on a wall, gripped tight, then exits the pod and pans across space, always focusing on the pod as it is dragged down with the ship.
Cortana: Chief! Eject the pod! Now!
The camera does not show the Chief as he releases the pod, but it does show the pod detaching from the ship. It leaves only a few moments before the ship crashes, sliding along the dirt, away from the ship, and slowly goes to a stop, while the ship explodes in a fiery ball of flame. The camera closes in on the life pod, and all is silent for a moment, the pod sometimes shimmering with sparks. The hatch opens, and the Chief steps out, stands up, and looks around. The planet that they are on is blue – blue sky, blue grass, blue trees, and there is a river, flowing with clear water, running over grey, moss-covered rocks. It goes on farther than the player can see.
Master Chief: Where are we?
Cortana: I'll check my data centers. {There is a short pause. Cortana puts her hand on her head.} This planet… it's not any Human colony… nor is it Covenant.
Master Chief: What does this mean?
Cortana: {Turns her head to the left and looks extremely surprised; her avatar's mouth drops open.} Chief! Sentinels!
Master Chief: No where have I seen this before?
The level ends.
Firefight
The player can now begin. The Chief goes into the ambush of oncoming Sentinels with a BR55 SR Battle Rifle and, as a backup, an M6G Magnum Sidearm. He shoots them down, but more keep appearing from the trees. Once they are all destroyed, a rumble shakes the ground, and Covenant soldiers come out.
Cortana: Covenant! How?
The first round of Covenant is a mix of Grunts and Jackals. The next round is Elites and Brutes. Once all aliens are killed, Cortana speaks up.
Cortana: Chief! Find cover! I've located a structure about a half a mile north. Get there as fast as you can.
The Chief runs back around the life pod, over the stream, and then over a large expanse of blue grass, always met by Covenant and Sentinels.
Cortana: I believe that, since I've dealt with Sentinels before, I can hack into their systems.
The Chief now continues to kill aliens. The Sentinels seem to attack the Covenant first, and then once all of them are dead, then move on to the Chief. When the Sentinels are shot and explode, their fiery bits smash onto the Covenant below, wiping them out. Now, once everything is dead in the vicinity of the blue expanse, a forest, complete with blue leaves on brown-trunked trees, is visible.
Cortana: Alright, the structure should be just a little beyond this forest.
{Cutscene}
The camera shows the Master Chief, dead ahead, with Cortana in his head.
Master Chief: Okay. Where are we?
Cortana: From the Sentinel mainframe, I've figured out that this world, called Rampart, by the Forerunners, is a shield world.
Master Chief: Like Onyx.
Cortana: Precisely. The Forerunners built this planet so that they could be safe from Halo's blast, but none of them made it here in time. This would also be a planet that was used to examine Flood, and there are still facilities around here holding them.
Master Chief: So how are there Covenant?
Cortana: Apparently, the Prophet of Truth sent top-notch groups of all of the Covenant races to settle on this planet, as a back-up for defeat, so that the species could live on.
Master Chief: So how are we going to wipe out an entire planet of Covenant, Sentinels, and Flood?
Cortana: Trust me, Chief; I've tried to find that answer. Nothing in the Sentinels technology gave me that data. I'll try to figure it out. But for now, find cover in that structure.
The Chief pulls up his gun to his shoulder and begins to walk towards the forest. The camera can only see behind him as he enters.
{Gameplay}
The Chief cuts through the forest, killing all Covenant that get in his way. If Sentinels come, hitting them in the right spot may spin them into trees, destroying them. Grunts hide behind trees; Jackals wave their energy shields. Elites do not hide, but come out. Brutes are exceptionally hard to murder in the forest; they are in their element. Once out of the forest, the trees going from thick quantity to minute quantity, there is another expanse of grass. The structure is just barely visible over the horizon. More Sentinels attack, and once they are all destroyed, the Chief moves forward, and a giant ravine stands before him.
Cortana: Hold on, Chief. You're going to have to find an alternate route.
The Chief moves to the right, where there is a large cliff. At the bottom, there is a small opening. Upon entering it, it is a large tunnel. He goes through it, met by Sentinels only. The tunnel continually turns left and right, a winding path. The walls are grey, surging with blue Forerunner symbols. The ceiling isn't high, but high enough to give a little room between it and the Chief. When the path ends, there is a large room. It is also grey with symbols, all around the perimeter. There is a large gap in the center, a bottomless pit of blackness. There is a small bridge, but to activate it, a podium with a blue holographic touch-screen board. The Chief walks up to it and activates it. The bridge slides out from its hold, and reaches the end. The Chief steps on, and the bridge slides back into place. He steps off, and begins to exit the room. There ate three doors. The middle one leads straight, and the left and right ones curve into the middle. Once converged, the paths are one. The Chief moves through the corridor. It slowly begins to turn into just a slim walkway over a deep drop.
{Cutscene}
The Chief steps on the walkway, but on the second step, he slips. But he stabilizes himself.
Cortana: Careful, Chief. Keep yourself upright.
Master Chief: Why is this tunnel filled with drops?
Cortana: I have the feeling that there's a secret hidden on this planet, and this tunnel was made to keep out…something.
Master Chief: What?
Cortana: I think…the Flood.
{Gameplay}.
The Chief finishes walking across the high bridge. Once off, there is one last corridor. The long corridor gradually ascends at an angle, and at the end, when a door opens, and the Chief walks out, he is on the other side of the ravine. There is a plane of blue grass ahead.
Cortana: {As the Chief moves across the plane} These three drops…the Forerunners who created this shield world, Rampart, must've had a failsafe plan for ensuring that the Flood wouldn't reach that construct if they escaped their examination facility. They must have been concerned about their safety…and I don't blame them.
As the Chief moves across the plane, two Hunters come at him. The two 'brother' aliens shoot their fuel rod cannons at him. Once they're killed, the Chief moves on to the construct. There is one more small gap in the ground, which he can just barely jump over. The door to the construct slides open as he approaches it. He enters, and as he descends a ladder. The ladder goes down into a deep, deep hole.
Cortana: Again, the depths of this hole prove why the Forerunners wanted to remain safe from the Flood.
The Chief reaches the bottom of the hole.
Cortana: Now that you've found cover from the Covenant and Sentinels, I'm going to call for backup. I didn't call earlier; the Slipspace rupture would alert everything on this planet that something was up.
Cortana (Over the COM Lines): UNSC, this is the AI Cortana, serial number CTN 0452-9. Anyone copy?
Static crackles before the transmission is answered.
Unnamed Captain (Over the Com Lines): Yes, Cortana. This is the frigate Aegis Fate. You sent out your transmission in distress signal format. How can I help?
Cortana (Over the Com Lines): Yes, Aegis Fate – the Master Chief and I are stranded on an unknown planet. It is located seven light-years east of the Ark. Us, ourselves, are in a large construct at 0 degrees latitude, 30 degrees longitude.
Unnamed Captain (Over the COM Lines): Rodger, Cortana. You want us to rescue you two? Got it.
Cortana (Over the COM Lines): No, we need backup. There are Covenant.
Unnamed Captain (Over the COM Lines): Covenant?
Cortana (Over the COM Lines): Yes. Covenant, Flood, and Sentinels.
Unnamed Captain (Over the COM Lines): How in God's name are there Covies, Flood, and Sents on this little planet of yours?
Cortana (Over the COM Lines): It's another shield world, like Onyx.
Unnamed Captain (Over the COM Lines): Shield world…and so all of the alien races are on it, safe from the activation of Halo.
Cortana (Over the COM Lines): Yes. Truth sent representatives from all of the races to this planet. And they need to be eliminated.
Unnamed Captain (Over the COM Lines): Well, Cortana, you've got yourself a frigate to help you.
Cortana (Over the COM Lines): Thank you, Aegis Fate.
Unnamed Captain (Over the COM Lines): Sure, Cortana. Happy to help. Be there stat. Over and out.
Cortana: Okay, Chief. Let's wait it out until the Fate arrives. In the mean time, start exploring this construct. Maybe you can figure out more about Rampart that can help us in the long run.
The Chief turns away from the ladder and moves through the corridor. Through the corridor, it is dark, only lit by a few overhead lights. At the end of the corridor, there is more light, from the ceiling, the floor, and the walls. In the light, there is a large, octagonal room. In the center, there is a grey mechanism. It has gears and pistons, moving around, up and down, and side-to-side. In the center, there is a clear rectangular prism. Inside, it is swirling with white gas. On the top of the prism, there is a glowing hologram with Forerunners symbols.
Cortana: I'm analyzing this machine. {After a short pause} This is an information database. It holds all of the information about the Flood and their correlation with Rampart. I'll put myself in and check it out.
Cortana's avatar appears on the mechanism.
Cortana: Okay, here we go. {She puts her hand on her forehead in a thinking position} The Forerunners created Rampart to protect themselves from the Halos. But because of the unbeknownst speed of the blast, the large vessel that carried the Forerunners to the planet, it was destroyed before it could reach it. Then 100,127 years later, the Covenant found it and settled there as a worst-case scenario. Just incase of military failure, the races could live on.
Quietly, but slowly becoming louder, the hum of the engines of the Aegis Fate roar outside the construct.
Cortana: The frigate's here, Chief. Backup is on the way.
Cortana (Over Directed COM): Thanks for coming, Fate. We're in the structure ahead. Come on in.
{Cutscene}
The camera zooms through the corridor, focusing on a group of Marines descend the ladder. There are eighteen men. They all gather around the Chief. Sergeant Lewis is a tall, white, muscularly built man. He raises his rifle to go over his shoulder.
Sergeant Lewis |New Character|: I'm ready to kill some Covenant loonies!
Cortana: {Sarcastically} That's a nice battle tactic you got.
Sergeant Lewis: Sorry, ma'am. {He giggles, tipping his hat} Now what's the plan?
Cortana: Well first, we need to gain control of a few more structures. I've located a few more structures within close range of here. We'll take them from the Covenant and have a base to fall back to.
Sergeant Lewis: Alright, men! {He turns to his men, away from Cortana) Saddle up! We've got structures to take! {Then, to himself, softly} I won't rest until all of those Covenant wackos are on the ground, begging me for dear life.
{Gameplay}
The Chief and all of the other Marines ascend back up the ladder. Once outside, the Chief can see the faint grey frigate, through the sky and clouds. Now, day is fading, and light, which only comes from a massive star in the heavens, is dwindling. The sky turns from blue to a reddish, orangey color near the horizon. Also near the horizon, two similarly-shaped constructs to the one the Chief are visible, grey against the dusk sky. The Chief and the Marines goes across another expanse, towards the two constructs. A wave of Brutes comes at everybody. Drones come in after. They fly around and land in trees (there are only three or four trees). Then a few Zealot Elites attack, waving shining, teal energy swords. Once they are picked off, the Chief and his backup reaches the first structure. It is a semi-pyramidal structure, with several openings to enter, which the Chief does, followed by his backup. Inside, it is an inclined plane. But blocking it off are three massive blast-safe doors.
Cortana: Three blast doors. More safety.
The Chief uses touch screens to open the three blast doors. Then, there is a monstrous circular room ahead.
Cortana: This room appears to be a dead end.
Sergeant Lewis: Were the Forerunners really that –
Before he can finish, the floor of the room unlatches from the wall and slides down, like an elevator.
Sergeant Lewis: Guess not.
The elevator goes past different floors. When it does pass a floor, there is a small door, which opens, revealing Jackals. They hop onto the elevator as it descends. Everybody fires at them. Once they are all killed, or avoided until the elevator stops on the lowest floor, the Chief and Marines step off. More Jackals come flooding in. They kill them, and move on through the structure. Ahead, there is another blast door, and, upon opening it, another large room is there.
Cortana: We're going to have to split up. The Chief and I will take two-thirds third of this group to gain control of the last two structures.
Sergeant Lewis: You heard the lady, men. Let's hit it hard!
Cortana: Chief, lead 'em out.
The Chief goes back through the room and onto the elevator, followed by his backup. But it stopped at the first floor.
Cortana: The elevator appears to be jammed. If the Forerunners were so concerned with safety, then there must be another way to exit this construct. Go through that door.
The Chief an his backup goes through the door. There, they are met with a series of twists and turns. Then, Covenant attack.
Cortana: Covenant found a way in!
Through the twists and turns, the Chief and his backup kill the Covenant. Then, suddenly, up ahead, there is a door, marked with a Forerunner symbol.
Cortana: {Talking about that door} Look, Chief – a service elevator.
The Chief and his backup board the service elevator, but only two men and the Chief can make it.
Cortana: We'll go last. Three of you, hop on.
Three backup men get on the elevator. Then three more, and then three more, and then three more. Then, after all twelve men are on, the Chief boards the elevator, and when he gets to the top, reunites with the backup. Then, suddenly, two Ranger Elites appear in the air with a flash of electricity. One of them holds a small, cube, glowing blue, with the same swirling gas as seen in the database mechanism. When firing his weapon, though, he drops it, and once the two are dead, a cutscene begins.
{Cutscene}
The camera shows the Unnamed Marine and the Chief.
Unnamed Marine A: Looks like one of 'em dropped something.
The Chief picks it up.
Cortana (Over Directed COM): I'll analyze it. {A few moments later} It's a teleportation device. That's how those Rangers got in.
The cube folds into itself, becoming a small microchip.
Cortana (Over Directed COM): Well, that was easy…Chief, put it in a slot in your armor. It could come in handy.
Unnamed Marine A: Like right now? Let's flash on over to the other construct.
Cortana (Over Directed COM): I'm not sure if I can get it just right, but I can try.
A small beep is heard, and the camera shows each Marine flashes away in a bright, white light. Then, the Master Chief goes, too, and the camera stays in the empty room for only a second before cutting to the next Forerunner construct. The Chief and the Marines are in a similar room to the one that they teleported out of. But the Chief 's head slams into the wall while he finishes teleporting. The slot in which he put the teleportation chip is damaged and sparks as the chip is shorted out.
Cortana (Over Directed COM): Now that we've gained the first structure two, and we've got no teleportation left, we've gotta leave half of you guys here.
Unnamed Marine B: {He raises his hand} I guess I'll stay.
Unnamed Marine C: {Waves his Assault Rifle after Unnamed Marine B stops talking} Yeh, me too.
Four Marines also answer the call, and they all speak up at once.
Unnamed Marine D: I'll go.
Unnamed Marine E: Yep, I'm up for it.
Unnamed Marine F: You got me.
Unnamed Marine G: I'm there!
Cortana: Okay, let's move.
Master Chief: Wait.
Cortana: What, Chief?
Master Chief: How do you think the Sentinels got here?
Cortana: Well, Chief, there are many different options, and I think that –
Master Chief: {Cutting her off} Think of Onyx.
Cortana: They had a… oh! A Sentinel Creator Factory.
Master Chief: We need to get there…and wipe out all the Sentinels from the face of this planet.
The camera fades to black.
The level ends.
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