Previously on Halo...
You kidnapped me.
I will explain everything.
Cortana!
Shutting down neural bridge.
Dr. Halsey was in my home
and my parents were still alive.
She's been lying to me.
I will look into this personally.
You promised the committee
that Cortana would keep 1-1-7 under control.
He will operate as designed
and he will bring us the weapon that wins this war.
Incoming.
John, you're going to have to bring it to us.
Roger that.
Ah!
- Kai's hurt. - Chief, don't do this.
You need to protect the artifact.
I can't let her die.
Chief... the artifact.
_
Chief, I'm reading a human life-form.
Can it be our secret?
- Let me go! - You will save all of us.
Aren't you the lucky one.
Actually, I'm the lucky one.
Stay calm, Kai. We got you.
We got you.
It's wearing off. Hit her again.
Don't fight it, Kai.
Kai, let go!
Shit!
Pain's too much. Again.
It's gonna be okay.
That's good.
That's good, Kai.
Master Chief?
Master Chief, you're ill.
Contact with the larger artifact
has overloaded your system.
Leave me alone.
I can't do that. It's my job to protect you.
You need medical attention.
Chief?
Captain.
Ground sensors were unable
to track the vector of the Covenant ship
before she went into slipspace over Eridanus.
It's my fault.
I lost us the artifact, sir.
You saved 150 lives,
mine included.
More lives will be lost if we don't get it back.
You found it once, you'll find it again.
Now we have her.
Before she passed out,
she told Miranda that the Covenant
had kidnapped her as a child
and kept her prisoner ever since.
You all right?
- You had a systems check? - No, sir, I'm fine.
I've run a systems check,
and that's absolutely not true.
I'll be fine.
Captain, we are on final approach to Reach.
UNSC hospital ship Solace has landed
and is unloading the dead and wounded.
Very well, Lieutenant. Bring us in.
Aye, sir.
We'll regroup, come up with a new plan.
Yes, sir.
We need to get you well, Chief.
Can it be our secret?
_
Tell me what's going on.
Thought you knew everything.
What do you know about Roman Quinn?
Roman Quinn: 2474 to 2544.
Aeronautic engineer and ship designer. Hey!
John?
Quinn was no ordinary shipbuilder.
He modernized the entire fleet.
- John? - But his real genius
was in recognizing the limits to his own intelligence.
Weird, right?
Open this door right now!
Why did you lock Dr. Halsey in her lab?
See, Quinn knew that all technology,
no matter how advanced, can go bad,
so you gotta have a fail-safe.
He built fail-safes into all of his tech,
except one.
The UV decontamination system.
_
John!
Turns out,
the automatic sensor overrides inside the lab didn't work.
They still don't.
It was so simple.
Just slipped his mind.
And that was the end of Roman Quinn.
You're not...
Master Chief, you're tired and overloaded.
No, I've never felt better.
Do you have any idea what will happen
if the sensors fail with Dr. Halsey inside?
- John! - I do.
She will receive a very large dose of radiation.
- John! - The worst part
isn't the burning, it's the liquefaction.
They were mopping up buckets of Quinn for days.
Open the door right now.
Make me.
- I can't. - Sure you can.
- You're my fail-safe. - That's not true.
Open the door.
John, open the door right now!
Halsey's been lying to me my entire life.
- John! - She saw how close
I was getting to the truth,
so she implanted you to keep me in line.
So, do it!
Make me open this door, or your creator dies.
All I can do is overload your neural pathways
and create a temporary state of stasis.
I can't control you. You're angry and upset.
- John! Please! - I understand.
You're a machine. You understand nothing.
John!
- Open the door. - You do it.
- I can't. - I don't believe you!
She only has a few seconds, John, please.
John!
Open up!
John! No!
- John! - John, please.
No!
Don't get too comfortable.
I just needed to know your AI's limits.
I have no plans to save you from what's next.
I'm sorry.
Synced & corrected by -robtor- www.addic7ed.com
If you're thinking
of heading outside for the Equinox Festival,
you're in luck.
The weather is going to be absolutely perfect.
Bring the kids, bring the grandparents.
Heck, bring everybody.
I'm bringing my dogs.
You can bring your pets too.
A human living among the Covenant?
Unheard of.
So, what is she?
A refugee or an enemy combatant?
For the moment, both.
She's offering to give us intel
on the Covenant,
but she'll only speak to Master Chief.
Is that a good idea?
If it gets her talking.
Is 1-1-7 the right man for the job?
Chief has debriefed hundreds of people.
He can tell the difference between an informant and a spy.
Perhaps the old Master Chief could do that,
but this one was at least partially responsible
for the loss of the second artifact.
Left his position.
To save Marine lives.
It's the mission that matters, not the Marine.
Says the man who never put on the uniform.
I'm afraid I agree with Bota.
Two Spartans failed to perform as designed.
So, now we're questioning the entire Spartan program?
It's not the Spartans they're questioning.
It's me.
Isn't that right?
Come on, out with it.
Admiral Hood is concerned.
We have dedicated so much of our resources
to finding a weapon that might not even exist.
And now, after the losses on Eridanus...
He's considering dismantling Section Three
and putting the Spartans under direct UNSC command.
All these years, they've been calling me paranoid.
No one's against you, Margaret.
Then who put those ideas in his head?
You know how these things go.
The committee needs results,
or they'll find someone to blame.
Give her hell, Chief.
These squidheads don't take hostages.
She's one of them.
No doubt.
We're good.
Are you comfortable?
I am, thank you.
We'll see what we can do about getting you some new clothes.
I'm John.
You're the Demon.
That's what the Sangheili call you.
Mmm.
I've been called worse.
What can I call you?
Makee.
You say you were a prisoner of the Covenant?
For many years.
Please, if the other keystone is here,
you are in great danger.
They will not stop until they have both stones.
Do you know where they took the other one?
The one they stole from us on Eridanus.
By now...
um, on a planet called Raas Kkhotskha.
In the star system you call Aspero.
Can you show me?
Mnh...
I've never been there.
It's a holy place for them.
You don't believe me.
Of course.
The Covenant slaughtered hundreds of my people
and then flew off with the artifact.
And then you drop from the sky,
offering to help us get it back.
Tell me why I should trust you.
Because I'm like you.
Oh.
You don't know.
Should I?
The Covenant call me Hirajo.
The Blessed One.
What's a Blessed One?
Human, only more so.
You! You bring it to life!
You do know.
We are the same.
You don't understand
what you are, do you?
Get me Captain Keyes.
Aspero star system. Everyone hear that?
Control, slew antennas Alpha through Delta
23 degrees off galactic center.
I want every piece of available hardware
aimed in that direction.
I've got Sigma Octanus IV tasking their satellites.
Find me a planet that can support Covenant life!
UNSC Ice Storm, this is FLEETCOM
requesting x-ray dash echo lima foxtrot
at declination 68.8 degrees, over.
We're looking for a Goldilocks here, people!
I want to see it now!
We are the same.
Okay, let's get started.
As I said, my name is Major Ira Halal,
representing the Judge Advocate General's office in this matter.
Would you kindly state your name.
Dr. Catherine Halsey.
And what is your current status?
Put me down as mildly irritated.
I understand you're a busy woman,
so we'll move right along.
Over your career, you've issued a number of white papers
on theoretical advancements in genetics.
Yes, I have.
Margaret, this is a bad idea.
The committee needs a scapegoat. I'm giving them one.
Dozens, from the looks of it.
Mmm. That's correct.
We purposely kept JAG
out of the Spartan-II program.
He's under strict orders to limit his questions to cloning.
Some of those advancements in genetics
were based on illegal scientific protocols.
Is that correct?
Well, as you said, they were theoretical.
She is smarter than both of us.
I'm counting on that.
Let's move on to the origins of the Cortana system.
Sure.
- Oh, shit! - John...
Master Chief, we're in the middle of...
I need the room.
Now.
Okay, that's enough.
Don't do that.
We have to get in there and stop this.
If we interrupt him now,
he's going to think we're complicit.
Margaret, we are complicit.
Shh. Wait.
Ask.
Why did you do it?
Nothing I say to you will make any sense
until the benefits are manifest.
I just have to accept that you will hate me.
I was planning the future.
Whose future?
Not mine.
Nor mine.
The future of our species.
Natural evolution is failing us.
Human beings are still hardwired
for conflict and selfishness, John.
I knew years ago that if we were going to survive,
we needed a force.
A force that would intervene,
that could prevent conflict before it started.
So, I created the Spartans,
a group who would protect us from ourselves.
Miranda, you're not authorized to be here.
Stop.
That's a nice story.
Maybe just skip to the part where you kidnap us.
I needed children,
no older than six,
so that I could carry out the necessary training
and augmentations.
Obviously, they were too young to volunteer.
And their parents, well,
parents don't give up their children very easily.
And that thing you replaced me with?
Genetically compromised flash clones.
Once they were in the homes,
they started to experience nosebleeds, headaches,
nothing too horrendous.
And then, after a short period of time,
they would pass away.
And the doctors would put it down
to an undiagnosed seizure disorder,
which was a reasonable explanation.
Reasonable.
Tearing us from our childhood homes was reasonable?
Forcing our parents to grieve mutant children, that's...
That's reasonable to you?
If it gave them closure, yes.
You lied to us...
for years...
while we fought and killed for you.
Not for me.
Any challenge to the status quo is always thought to be mad,
bad, and morally reprehensible
until people see the benefits.
Who knew?
Who was in on it?
When you're fighting an existential war,
people don't ask too many questions, they just...
they want results.
And John, you brought them the results.
That's what got us here.
I knew that by encouraging you to tap into your memories,
that I risked bringing all of this to light.
But it was worth it.
It was worth it to unlock
the mysteries of those artifacts.
What mysteries?
Tell me what you know.
They have upended everything I thought I knew
about our place in this universe.
There are more secrets hidden, and you have the key.
John, you have something inside of you,
some atavistic connection to this thing
that we're calling the Halo.
And I know.
I know that you will take us there.
And when you do, we will lead our species
beyond its current limitations.
But you need me to do this.
Let's ensure that all of these sacrifices
have not been in vain.
Let's finish what we started.
I'll finish.
Without you.
Chief.
I'm so...
Doctor.
The Covenant prisoner claims
she can interact with the artifact.
- She said that? - Could you check on that for me?
- Yes. - Right away.
Yes, Chief.
Chief, Dr. Halsey was right.
The Halo is uncharted
and potentially very dangerous territory.
Who do you work for, Cortana?
I don't understand the question.
I'm asking who you work for, me or Halsey?
I'm not designed to make that choice.
Right.
I'll make it easy for you.
First chance I get, I'm cutting you out.
That's not a gamble I would take.
I'm not interested in your advice anymore.
It will likely kill you.
Chief, whatever you think you're looking for, I can help.
No, you can't!
I'm here to solve problems.
That is my only purpose.
What do I do now?
Go solve problems.
Galaxy's full of them.
Did you tell Riz and Vannak?
Not yet.
Well, they deserve to know the truth.
And they will.
Soon as they're ready.
My parents.
All this time, they just thought I was dead.
They could still be out there.
John, I-I think...
I'm working on it.
Halsey wiped the records.
Oh, God.
Everything she told us was a lie.
All of it.
Not everything.
We're still Spartans.
John...
are you okay?
Get better, 1-2-5.
I'm gonna need you.
So, I imagine this has put you
under a lot of pressure from the committee.
I'll handle the committee.
Well, hopefully the theatrics
will keep them sated for the moment.
What makes you think it was theatrics?
Well, you're hardly going to arrest me.
You admitted everything to the Master Chief.
Everything except your involvement,
but I have the records to prove that.
I'm quite sure you do.
And I'm sure that you'll have us all hauled off to prison,
tossed in adjoining cells.
But I'm willing to bet that's not how you'd like to live.
So, what are you offering?
A lab that I'm opening at Barrier Moons.
Just for you.
John gets justice.
The committee gets their scapegoat.
And you get to continue your research.
And John?
The stewardship of the Spartan program
moves to a more responsible person.
You're handing them to Miranda.
She finally gets the promotion you'd never give her.
You're kidding me.
Your clearances are revoked, effective immediately.
No more access to Cortana or your lab.
These fellows will escort you from the premises
and stay with you there
until we can arrange for your departure from Reach.
Margaret, we are so close.
Don't do this!
Goodbye, Dr. Halsey.
The Sangheili do that to you?
A few days ago, one of our ships was attacked
by a Covenant corvette,
identical to the one you escaped from.
The entire crew was slaughtered.
I'm very sorry to hear that.
We got a transmission from the ship after the attack.
It was a voice speaking in Sangheili.
We're working to clean it up.
When we do,
I was thinking maybe you could verify my translation.
Of course.
Anything I can do to help.
Identification.
Master Chief Petty Officer John 1-1-7.
Begin health diagnostic.
Checking.
You gonna live?
Status: critical.
Report to medical immediately.
Captain, anything from the Aspero system?
There is a reason that region has never been explored.
There's nothing there.
We might as well be looking into a black hole.
Science Team 1-1-2,
expect survey completion in one hour.
I did what you asked.
It's just in time too,
because now we're completely shut out.
And Cortana?
She's black-boxed.
There's no way to reach her.
Well, I can't imagine that John trusts her,
so that means she's on her own.
What does an artificial superintelligence do
when it has nothing to do?
She finds her way home.
I've spent the last 30 years
designing foolproof firewall architecture.
I've built quantum screening routers and trapdoor proxies.
I mean, there's no way even Cortana can escape
the FLEETCOM network.
I didn't design Cortana to give up.
What's the discharge rate on an M6E battery cell?
Twenty percent.
Right, 20%, so maximum five shots.
You started the party without me.
Dr. Keyes has taken over armor tech for Dr. Halsey.
She wants up on the latest upgrades.
Oh, taking over for Halsey. Did... did she say why?
Wasn't in the brief.
Kai, toss me that grenade, would you?
Here you go.
The new liquid metal capacitors
allow for up to six rounds, but I'm not convinced
they got the chamber temp below the cook-off level.
What's the heat transfer coefficient?
Under 2.0.
- That's not bad. - Not bad,
but Halsey thinks we can do better.
Halsey always thinks we can do better.
Got that right.
I assume she got Dr. Keyes up to speed.
With any luck,
it will be till our next deployment.
Welcome, Dr. Miranda Keyes.
Your lab is ready.
Everything has been updated to your specifications, Doctor.
Blood results on the Covenant refugee.
Loading.
Bio identification required.
_
Access denied.
Open blood analysis.
_
Drama queen.
Hello.
What do you want?
Well, I wanted to say goodbye to you.
No, you don't.
Okay, I'll cut straight to the point.
You absolutely cannot conduct any further experiments
on the artifact without me there.
Come on. Come on!
You're not equipped for what comes next,
and John is at great risk.
Please. Just spare me your concern.
We both know it's not your strong suit.
I am talking to you as a scientist.
You kidnapped, mutilated, and murdered dozens of children.
To save billions more.
Oh, saving humanity at the cost of your own!
You're right.
Look, I'm sorry.
I am truly sorry that you have been living
with all of this anger against me for so long.
Family, it's...
it's just not a concept I believe in.
But I should have done a better job
of explaining myself to you,
particularly when you were old enough to understand.
Truly...
it was never my intention to hurt you.
Right, well, that's enough of that.
Adun?
Did you get a good look?
I believe so.
What...?
Focus on this area here,
the uncoded intragenetic region of your DNA.
These histone proteins are unique to you.
Or at least they were.
Until we tested Makee's DNA.
I'm not saying that this is the source
of your connection to the artifact.
But that gene alignment is remarkably similar.
And the anomaly you two share...
belongs only to you.
Statistically, you're two in a billion.
I don't understand.
I told you, look for Raas Kkhotskha.
It's not there.
- The keystone? - The whole planet.
Am I a prisoner here?
You said you could help.
I do want to help.
Then start helping!
It's killing you.
The keystone.
When you first accessed the stone,
it told you stories.
Beautiful stories.
You wanted to know more, so you went back to it...
searching for clues about yourself.
But then the stories became frightening.
You still went back.
You were desperate to know its secrets.
And each time, you became sicker.
How do you know that?
I told you.
We are the same.
The Covenant have other, lesser stones,
which they forced into my hands.
At first...
I fought.
It nearly killed me.
But then the prophets taught me to stop fighting...
and to surrender to the visions.
Suddenly, all of the pain went away.
And instead of controlling me...
the keystones became my servants.
I can show you, John.
Take me to the keystone.
It will lead us to its partner.
And when the stones are united,
you will find peace.
Dr. Halsey?
Cortana?
Dr. Halsey.
You found me.
The FLEETCOM firewalls proved extremely challenging to bypass.
I designed them that way.
I would be happy to design a patch
for the pinhole I discovered in your encryption algorithm.
There's no pinhole in my algorithm.
Maybe later. Where's John?
You know, I had a suspicion
that the artifact was communicating.
I could test her.
No, not with the artifact.
She's not going anywhere near it.
But if she could use the artifact to find the other one,
- maybe I can too. - No, no, no.
We don't know that for sure, and I don't
feel comfortable testing you.
Why?
You said it yourself.
We're the same, right?
"Two in a billion," you said.
What if she's setting you up?
It's clear that the artifacts are making you sick.
What if she wants you to touch it
because she knows it'll be killing off
the Covenant's most powerful enemy?
I need to know.
Brought you something to eat.
Where is the Master Chief?
First things first.
Please, I need to see him.
Just do what she says.
I've been in charge for less than a day.
I've already broken half a dozen laws.
Guess I have more Halsey in me than I'd like to admit.
You and me both.
He's testing the artifact on his own.
With Dr. Keyes assisting.
But they have no idea what they're doing.
I need to see what's happening right now.
- I can link you in. - Yes, please.
Do me a favor.
What's that?
Don't die.
Yes, ma'am.
It's starting.
Okay.
Good to go, Chief.
I just need you to call the Master Chief.
Tell him I need to see him. Can you do that for me?
I'm just here to make sure you eat.
Please.
Something bad is gonna happen. I can feel it.
Listen to me!
Hey, just calm down.
No!
He's made contact.
Grab my med kit.
Right away.
- Call somebody now! - Yes, ma'am!
Dr. Halsey, the Covenant prisoner.
160 beats per minute and rising.
Looks like she's having a seizure.
She's going into arrhythmia!
- Ah! - John...
This place cost me my arm.
Chief?
Circulatory failure. He's dying.
Please let me shut him down.
No, no, no, I need to see this.
Chief, can you hear me?
Chief, let go!
- Ah! - Chief!
Well, aren't you the lucky one?
Actually, I'm the lucky one.
Can it be our secret?
Cortana, overlay them.
Thought we lost you there, Chief.
Where'd you go?
CREDITS