- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Level 03
Hero Business
Once reaching the Pelican you and it's crew disembark from the skyscraper and head to New Mombasa where some fallen Marines are getting hit hard by a stationary plasma cannon. You’re told that they need assistance taking out this gun; otherwise the West Section of New Mombasa will be completely lost. You volunteer your services and are immediately thrown into the battle site.
There you and other Marines mark the nearby cannon so that bombers can swoop down and take it out of commission. During the melee you and your group lay siege to nearby Revenant, a new sleeker battle tank, and are told to take all of them out. You chase them around the Mombasa streetscape, taking out one by one on Warthogs. The chase darts in and out of structures and through the subway system. Once they are all taken out, a large grouping of Covenant Troops on Ghosts and Phantoms, a mid-size Covenant drop/battle ship, begin to attack from the north. You’re able to take the majority of them out, but are told by Cortana that there are many more coming and you need to draw their attention away from the Marines. She directs you to one of the Ghosts nearby. You snag it and head off to the direction she’s advised, the Phantoms and Banshees in tow.
You’re able to escape them throughout a narrow roadway, but you find yourself stranded on a highway while large arrow shaped stones shoot from the sky into the ground, more then five meters tall each. Inside, Elite soldiers emerge and initiate combat. You are able to dispatch several of them with a plasma grenade and gun fire, but an explosion from a nearby cannon knocks you off the roadway and onto the ground below.
Level 04
A Dirty Little Secret Pt. 1
You find yourself in a park on the outskirts of New Mombasa. Cortana tells you that the Purge’s crash site, incidentally, is not far away and that based on the readings she was getting, the information the Marines were referring to as “important” appears to be just that, since the Covenant have concentrated their forces around the site. So inevitably you venture off in it’s direction. You enter a massive forest area with large trees and the occasional Covenant Troop. When you make you way into the clearing you see a massive battle taking place. You come up behind the Marines and they ask for your assistance. There are several Scorpions and Warthogs there to choose from, or you can take it by foot. There is the occasional rock and tree to use as cover, but for the most part it’s open territory. Cortana advises you that the Covenant, knowing the significance of the information on board is guarding the Purge, which is only a little ways behind them. After you and the Marines have cleared out the Covenant Troops, or if you decide to just dart through the battle, you make your way into a large forest area again. Revenants and Phantoms lay chase and race through the forest with you, making it virtually impossible on foot. With a vehicle and some fellow Marines, you’re able to pass this section after taking out half a dozen of these vehicles through the rocky and tree-filled terrain. Once you get to the end of the forest you find another clearing and see the burning hull of the Purge sticking straight up out of the ground, with Covenant Troops guarding the base of the crash site.
Cortana tells you that although it’s going to be difficult you have to enter the Purge and go into the control deck located at the top of what appears to be a narrow-mountain sticking out of the ground a kilometer into the air with smoke and ash smoldering from within. Banshees fly about the craft watching for intruders, and Scroptions scuttle across the ground with hordes of Covenant Troops.
You can choose to either use a sniper rifle to take out Covenant Troops one-by-one at a distance while the Marines create a diversion with your vehicle or you can rush them and catch them off guard. Either way, once the enemies are cleared, you make your way into the cracked hull of the ship. Since the ship is sideways it’s extremely difficult to scale, but you make your way alone from a holding cell into a corridor. There you are faced with more Covenant Troops. You battle through the ship, into a mess hall and down more corridors, walking on the walls instead of the floor. Cortana guides your through several docking bays, the armory and a conference hall until you get into the control deck where you see other Covenant aliens named Prophets.
They’re in the control deck viewing a hologram of what appears to be the original Halo, the hologram pans out to see literally hundreds of Halos located throughout the galaxy. Cortana tells you to not intrude, hoping to learn something from this. Based on the visuals and the communication she determines something grave. That the Halo, which you destroyed, was only one of many, and that the Covenant is planning on using these as weapons against other planets, including Earth (if it survives its current attack). They believe that their gods planted these weapons in the galaxy and it is their job to use them to rule it without question. The hologram is being projected from a disk, and Cortana tells you that the disk is the crucial information, and you need to retrieve it at all costs. You jump and grab the disk, and several Covenant Troops suddenly appear, engaging their weapons and preparing to fire. The control deck windshield is cracked and open but the drop below would kill you, you look down to the ground a kilometer below, with Banshees spiralling about the ship. Suddenly and without hesitation, you leap from the control deck plummeting towards the ground much to the Covenant's surprise. With a well-timed leap you drop atop a Banshee and remove the Elite, flinging him to the ground You reach under and pull out the Covenant Troop, and hurling him to the ground far below. Before the Banshee can crash, you take control and head off to safety.
Interlude
Upon returning to the human headquarters in Earth City, you and Cortana deliver the newly acquired information to the commanding officers. When they open it they discover that the vast majority of the Halos existing are not active, and have actually never been stepped on by the Covenant. However there are many that are active and very close completion. The source for these is believed to be another race prior to the Covenant and that they had designed them as a way of generating control in the galaxy and it eventually became the only hope against the Flood. It is decided that the only way to stop the Halos from all going active is to access one of them and find a weak point in their structure, perhaps something that connects all of them. You and Cortana, along with thousands of other Marines board the recon ship, the Refuge and head towards the nearest Halo.
Level 05
Home On The Range
Upon arriving on Halo the defenses are very high so the Marines take pods to the ground to come in without be noticed. You land in a large canyon area between massive, steep mountains and go forward with a variety of vehicles that detach from pods, including a Hornet, a new Marine vehicle that flies similar to the Banshee.
You and your band of Marines charge forward, coming into quick conflict with the Covenant Troops within the canyon walls. You break out into a large field area where there are a great deal of Covenant forces with their weapons and vehicles. You notice three massive plasma turrets which are creating an impasse to the cavern which leads to the base. They are spread out over the battlefield, and in order to proceed to the Covenant base it is imperative to take out these out. If you don’t have a vehicle it’s in your best interest to get one, and head to the nearest turret. Using grenades, missiles and other firepower at the rear-power-generator of each turret will take it out after a while. Once the three are down the Marines will give you the go ahead to leave, and Cortana will guide you to the Covenant base. As you approach the Covenant base alone you find that it is heavily fortified with huge walls. This fortress is located next to a vast body of water, and there is an abundance visible snow falling within the walls of the base. Cortana directs you to a side entrance with minimal guards and you make your way into the outer wall fortification carefully. In the dark recesses of the outer Covenant base you trail your way through the generator rooms and using several elevators make your way onto the top of the bases’ walled defense. Taking out enemies as you go you clear the top sections of the walls and avoid firing from various turret points below. When you reach the end of the wall on the far side of the base, you drop below and down into the wall's interior structure, and back to the ground level. There you and Cortana get communication from the Marines that reinforcements are on its way, and they request that you open the main entrance gate. Cortana leads you to a power generator switch for the gate within a structure in the main court yard, and after dispatching Covenant troops you can open the gates and allow the Marines to enter. You exit the structure and continue down through towards the interior of the Covenant base. The Covenant Troops barricade the rear entrance of the base with their forces and there are two more turrets, which pose a similar threat. Once the issue with them is resolved as before, you and the remaining Marine forces continue through the Covenant base, which is by in large forged of rocky structures similar to the original Halo’s bases. Throughout the rear sections of the base you meet more resistance but eventually find you way into the main interior structure of the base, via a ramp down into Halo.