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| Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | |
| Posted By: SonGoharotto <SonGoharotto@gmail.com> | Date: 5/28/11 7:59 p.m. |
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Slightly rewrote the ending of Two Betrayals, so I'll start with that. {Cutscene} The outer doors of the Forerunner installation open, but the way is still blocked by overgrown vines. Master Chief kicks and pushes his way through... and is immediately confronted by a pair of startled, battle-worn Marines, who train their rifles on him. • Marine: (Frantic) "Hold it! Hold it right there! Are you one of them?! Did they get you?!" Master Chief raises his hands in supplication. • Cortana: "It's okay. The Chief is uninfected."
Lieutenant McKay approaches, bloodied and weary, but looking every bit a hard ass ODST. • Lt. McKay: "Where the hell have you two been? Shit has really hit the fan since we lost contact with you and Captain Keyes."
Chief and McKay cross the base. There is wreckage everywhere, of both UNSC vehicles and Covenant craft, some still burning. Splashes of human blood and lumps of Flood remains show what kind of battle was just fought here. Marines with Flamethrowers are incinerating the alien biomass. The ring world has rotated enough that this area is currently under twilight, casting an appropriately crimson pall over the carnage. • Lt. McKay: "As soon these things struck, he locked down the command trailer, to keep hostiles from getting our intel. Standard Oh-Pee. Little did we know these things didn't come for information -- they came for us. Started dragging people off before we even realized they were coming from inside this structure. The fighting's been over for hours now, but I haven't heard a peep from the Major." At the command trailer, two more Marines are trying to pry open the door. • Master Chief: "Coming through." Without breaking stride, the SPARTAN kicks through the door like it was tin foil and enters the trailer. A backwash of smoke and Flood spores gives McKay pause, but then she dives in. Inside, Master Chief is being held at gunpoint. The hand holding the M6G wavers and pulls the trigger. It clicks, empty. The arm drops. It's Major Silva, but we see him only obliquely. He slumps behind the overturned sys-ops table, looking to be at death's door. Wavering antennae sprout from his chest. Fallen Flood Combat forms occupy the floor space. The Chief kneels next to Silva. • Maj. Silva: (Weakly) "Master Chief?"
An expression of horror cracks through Lieutenant McKay's stoicism. • Maj. Silva: (To McKay) "Melissa... I know what that look means." (To Master Chief) "Chief... you have your work cut out for you. The Covies got hit hard too... right before us. It's a warzone."
Master Chief unholsters his own sidearm and hands it to Major Silva, who looks relieved. • Maj. Silva: "We go in... feet first."
Master Chief rises and leaves, followed reluctantly by Lieutenant McKay. As soon as they're outside the command trailer, there is a flash and a bang. McKay hangs her head for a moment, then signals to the Marines lugging Flamethrowers. • Lt. McKay: "Burn it. Burn everything." (To the Chief) "Tell me you have a plan."
A crowd of survivors have gathered around them; some Marines and some Autumn crewmen. This last comment inspires whoops of approval. McKay shakes her head. • Lt. McKay: "You need command clearance for that. Only the Captain--" There is a pained cry and everyone reacts, drawing weapons. A scarred Elite with one fiercely burning eye has taken a crewman hostage. Though his combat harness has been stripped down to merely the underlying bodysuit, a Sangheili warrior remains far larger and stronger than even trained Marines. There is a standoff. • Zuka 'Zamamee: (Furious) "Heresy!" Zuka fires a spray from the crewman's Assault Rifle. Master Chief moves to defend Lieutenant McKay, the bullets pinging harmlessly off his MJOLNIR suit's energy shields. The Elite takes this opening to throw aside the crewman and mount a nearby Ghost. Zuka dodges fire from the Marines and boosts over the perimeter wall, disappearing. • Lt. McKay: "Damn it! That was the prisoner we caught at the Cartographer. We have to stop him from warning his superiors!"
McKay grits her teeth. She doesn't like it, but she understands. • Lt. McKay: "Round 'em up, people! The Corps's not paying you by the hour!" She walks off-screen, leading the Marines. • Master Chief: (To Cortana) "So, what's this shortcut of yours?"
The SPARTAN disappears in those golden bands of light. Fade to white. Level ends.
Under New Management {Cutscene} We open to a fly-through of a canyon flooded by glowing green reactor coolant, which is draining out of the Truth and Reconciliation overhead. Covenant forces are fighting a losing battle with the Flood. • Cortana: "The Covenant network is in absolute chaos! From what I've been able to piece together, the Supreme Commander ordered all Covenant ships off the ring, but it was too late. The Flood overwhelmed this cruiser and established a foothold. Strike teams have been deployed in an attempt to sterilize the ship for departure." (Pause) "There's some interference from the damaged reactor. I'll bring us in as close as I can." [I never quite understood how Cortana was saying all this while you're teleporting. Guilty Spark does the same thing. I can only assume Forerunner teleportation isn't instantaneous. If their system is at all similar to ship-born Slipspace travel, I guess that would explain why there are some time discrepancies.] Master Chief appears at the end of a damaged corridor inside the cruiser. He promptly falls on his head and our view rotates around; he was upside down. • Cortana: "Ohh... I see, the coordinate data needs to be--" The Chief thumps his fist on the side of his helmet. • Cortana: "Right. Sorry." {Gameplay} Master Chief walks down the corridor, passing jammed doors and blown out power conduits. His Motion Tracker picks up transient hostile contacts, but he encounters no resistance yet. The SPARTAN's communication system issues static, and then... • Cpt. Keyes (COM): (Weakly) "Chief... Don't be a fool... Leave me..."
The Chief now encounters Flood and Covenant; just a few Harvester and Infection forms chasing Grunts. Around the corner, a trio of Jackals hide behind their shields. A Carrier form gets too close before succumbing to their plasma fire and bursts, scattering the infantry and making them easy game for a wave of more Infection forms. As with most interactions between Covenant and Flood, the player can choose to intervene or not. In this case, it may be better to clear the area yourself rather than let the Grunts and Jackals be turned into more Harvester and Scavenger forms. The Chief finds a working door, but in the hangar bay to which it opens, there is already a battle raging. {Cutscene} Flood Combat forms charge into the hangar, but are all cut down by the combined fire of four Elite Zealots. In their midst is a fifth wearing ornate purple armor with a matching cloak. He does not engage the Flood himself and appears largely unconcerned by their attack. [Decided to dress Thel as he appears in The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor, so he immediately stands out from any other Elite in the game.] Master Chief is observing the battle from behind the door frame. A large fissure in the floor at his feet prevents him from slipping into the room. A pool of reactor coolant can be seen in the canyon below, past several decks of sparking internal structure. • Cortana: "That's the Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice! He led the attack on Reach!" At this comment, the Chief snaps around and sights down his DMR at the Supreme Commander, but hesitates. The Sangheili officer notices this movement out of the corner of his eye and turns to regard 'The Demon'. A moment passes as they stare each other down. • Cortana: "Chief... I know what you're thinking, but we don't have time for revenge." The Supreme Commander utters something in his alien tongue to the Zealots. [Keith David speaking Sangheilese = Squee!] Their reaction is far more typical, roaring and firing their weapons. Master Chief ducks back around the corner. {Gameplay} • Cortana: "No way we're getting through here. Whatever caused this damage has set the lower decks aflame. Searching for another route." If the player lingers by the door, one may observe Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadam boarding a Phantom, which immediately departs. The Zealots will stick around for now in case Master Chief shows his faceplate again. The chasm in the floor is too wide to cross, even for a Sprinting jump -- even if you weren't being shot at. [As you might have guessed, I removed the bit about Master Chief getting a Rocket Launcher at the end of the last level so the player isn't tempted to duke it out with the Zealots, or trick a way over to the hangar bay.] Master Chief attempts to backtrack down the hall, but at the now-familiar sound of a Flood bellow, Combat forms begin swarming down the hall. After a few tense waves: • Cortana: "Running out of options here, Chief! Looks like the only way out is through that breach in the hull." If the player continues to linger. • Cortana: "Trust me! The pool of reactor coolant down there is deep enough to cushion our fall!" Eventually, the Chief relents and jumps into the fissure. He drops into the viscous pool of green coolant with a splash. He emerges into the middle of the ground fighting between Covenant and Flood. The Chief charges through bullets, plasma, explosions, and more pools of coolant. • Cortana: "Detecting a gravity field distortion up ahead. The cruiser's Gravity Lift is still operational! That's our way back in." Slipping down a slope awash in coolant, Master Chief comes out onto the very plateau where he first boarded the Truth and Reconciliation to rescue Captain Keyes. [You're now on the other side. Now there's no need to assume the cruiser had arbitrarily moved between levels.] This area is now overgrown with Flood biomass. The Chief fights his way to the Gravity Lift's dock and rides it back inside, finding the cargo holds similarly taken over; this is where the Flood established their initial foothold. Upstairs, Downstairs • Cortana: "According to new traffic on the battlenet, the Supreme Commander left his honor guard behind to hunt you down. He must want to make sure we don't get away again. I'll try routing a path so we can keep a low profile, but with such extensive structural damage, I don't know how reliable my record of the ship's schematics are anymore." Master Chief navigates the halls of the Truth and Reconciliation, now marred by battle and Flood growths. He encounters roving Flood forms, as well as malfunctioning doors and growths of biomass that must be cleared away, occasionally cutting through service tunnels. Coming upon a cargo bay, Cortana makes note of how the Flood are gathering bodies. Infection forms mutate intact bodies into new Combat forms. Mangled corpses are fed upon by Harvesters. It seems an Engineer has been spared and is instead being dragged from the room by a Combat form. It whines plaintively, more concerned by the damage to the ship than its own uncertain fate. • Cortana: "What are they doing with that Engineer? Maybe we should follow them, Chief." Whether the player chooses to follow the indicated Flood/Engineer duo or simply kill them and advance alone, Master Chief will eventually encounter a Covenant strike team, consisting of heavily armed Elite and Grunt Ultras. Once they are neutralized, a new transmission is received: • Cpt. Keyes (COM): "I--" (Groans in pain) "--gave you an order, sailor! Now pull out!"
[It kind of bugs me that Keyes keeps calling people "soldier," which really only applies to members of the Army. Marines are Marines and the SPARTANs are Navy. It's a small change, but it makes me feel better.] Master Chief presses on, sweeping more Flood out of his path. A door ahead opens onto a balcony overlooking the central hub. This is no cargo hold. The Captain The roughly circular chamber looks almost like a park. There are tiers of alien flora which had surely once been quite beautiful, but are now in various states of decay and infection. Numerous other balconies overlook this area, which lead out to all other parts of the ship. A single path on the ground floor leads across to a dais, where some manner of Forerunner artifact has been set up like an alter, now lorded over by a hulking growth of Flood biomass, supported by stretched out tentacles. [Don't worry, I have my reasons for moving the Proto-Gravemind out of the ship's bridge. Incidentally, this area is somewhat inspired by the Halo 2 multiplayer map "Gemini." It can be interpreted as a church of sorts, where the crew of the Truth and Reconciliation gather to observe sermons by, say, the Minister of Etiology.] The room is also abuzz with combat, literally. A swarm of Drones are circling about, trading fire with Combat forms on the ground floor. Master Chief can jump from balcony to balcony, finding weapons among Covenant corpses, but no other way out. The Drones will flee after enough have been slain, but the Flood will fight to the last. There is one last transmission from Keyes, but all Master Chief can hear are the Captain's anguished screams. (An observant player may notice the Flood mass writhe a bit.) • Cortana: "Signal lock. His vitals are fading! Get to that altar, Chief." {Cutscene} Master Chief approaches the Flood mass standing amidst flickering holograms projected by the Forerunner artifact. It looks like a giant brain stitched together from infected Engineers. [I figure they'd be useful to the Flood in this manner, given that they are biological supercomputers originally created by the Forerunners.] There is, however, one human form grafted onto the backside. The face of Captain Jacob Keyes is frozen in a tormented rictus. • Cortana: (Horrified) "No human life-signs detected. The Captain! He's one of... them!" (Pause) "We can't let the Flood get off this ring! You know what he'd expect..." (Quietly) "What he'd want us to do." Master Chief punches into Keyes's skull, feeling around inside the Flood mass. He withdraws the Captain's still-intact neural implants and shakes ichor from it, then plugs the chip into a compatible port on his helmet. • Cortana: (Somberly) "It's done. I have the code. We should go." {Gameplay} The cruiser shudders suddenly and sparks fly from conduits around the chamber. • Cortana: "The cruiser, it's moving! Did the Flood seize control of the bridge or are the Covenant doing this themselves? Quick, Chief, we have to find a way off before we move away from the ring!" On the ground floor, there is only one exit from the chamber. Before Master Chief even reaches the doors, they part, revealing the Supreme Commander's four honor guards. A Field Marshal leading the pack shoulders a Fuel Rod Gun, but stands guard near the door. One Zealot lugging a Plasma Cannon charges down the center while two others wielding a Needle Rifle and dual Needlers respectively move to flank the altar. Once three of the Zealots are dead, balcony doors above will burst open, allowing Flood Combat forms to drop into the chamber. Master Chief can stay to finish off the final Elite or use the distraction to his advantage and charge through the exit. As Master Chief tears down the hall, the Supreme Commander's voice thunders over the public address system. • Cortana: (Sarcastically) "More good news, Chief! The Supreme Commander is praising us all as 'glorious martyrs of the Covenant'. Once we're clear of the ring, the rest of the fleet is going to obliterate this ship. But I have a plan." (Drops a NAV beacon) "Get to this ventral hangar, on the double!" Any hostiles in the Master Chief's path are neutralized without hesitation. He dashes through rooms still occupied with fighting and drops from deck to deck. The final hangar bay is filled with rows of Covenant orbital drop insertion pods, small single-occupant capsules as well as heavy pods for a team. • Cortana: "There! That one is still functional! Hurry!" The Chief smashes Infection forms and knocks panicking Grunts from his path to the only heavy insertion pod still open and available. He jumps inside. {Cutscene} • Cortana: "Hold onto your helmet!" The doors on the insertion pod close up and it is sucked down through the launch tube in the floor. Fade to black. Level ends. [Never fear, I also have a way of preserving the priceless "You did that on purpose" bit at the start of the next level.]
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| Replies: |
| Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | SonGoharotto | 5/28/11 7:59 p.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | CaptainTony | 5/28/11 9:53 p.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | Impervium | 5/28/11 10:27 p.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | CaptainTony | 5/28/11 10:32 p.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | SonGoharotto | 5/29/11 12:56 a.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | CaptainTony | 5/29/11 1:00 a.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | SonGoharotto | 5/29/11 12:57 a.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | sithhead | 5/29/11 3:02 a.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | SonGoharotto | 5/29/11 8:03 a.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | CaptainTony | 5/29/11 1:05 p.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | sithhead | 5/29/11 7:37 p.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | CaptainTony | 5/29/11 8:42 p.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | Stephen L. (SoundEffect) | 5/29/11 9:41 p.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | CaptainTony | 5/29/11 11:31 p.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | ZackDark | 5/29/11 11:51 p.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | Stephen L. (SoundEffect) | 5/30/11 6:05 a.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | CaptainTony | 5/30/11 11:07 a.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | SonGoharotto | 5/30/11 6:45 p.m. |
| Re: Halo [R]Evolved - Keyes | SonGoharotto | 5/29/11 9:06 p.m. |
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