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Subject: Speculation about Clones...
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[Edited on 5/9/2006]

  • 05.09.2006 1:00 PM PDT
Subject: Speculation
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I have gone through Sacred Icon and Quarantine Zone and done a count of a the boxes. I found:

7 boxes of boots
4 boxes of gas masks
4 large boxes of something for warthogs
8 boxes of helmets
6 boxes of body armor
13 large boxes of food prep stations
2 large boxes of generators
about 10 other boxes

I can understand items like body armor and helmets but 11 food prep stations? It doesn't take that long to move through the Quarantine Zone, and they couldn't have needed to stop to eat 3-4 times. Also, why do they need generators? I think that this shows that there was something else going on in the quarantine zone.

Later in the level you hear a voice that says, “Negative ma’am, they are not covenant.” At First I thought that they were saying that whatever was attacking them(The Flood) was not covenant, But know I’m not so sure. Could he mean that the flood forms that are attacking him are not infected covenant, but something else, maybe humans?

In Quarantine Zone when you are on the moving platform you encounter human flood forms when the humans are only a minute a head of you. I'm not entirely sure, but I think it takes more than one minute to turn into a combat form and move to the location of the second platform.

In the helljumpers cutscene that plays before the level Delta Halo, you will see that there are several ODST drop pods on the ground before the MC and the first platoon land on Delta Halo. This shows that ODSTs may have been on the surface of Halo before the master chief and the first platoon land on Halo. If these pods had landed only seconds before the MCs as has been suggested the Grunt and Jackal in the helljumpers cutscene would have been more alert. The grunt would have already been in the turret and there would probably be covenant on the ground near the pod.

Also later on in the mission is what looks like a cave that has been dug out. In it is a dead ODST. To my knowledge, there was no mention of sending ODSTs ahead of the Master Chief. Why was an ODST so far ahead of the other humans?

Now, why would he need to clone Spartans on a Halo? Couldn't he do it a secure facility on a human planet? My answer is that his plan was not just to clone the Spartans, but to experiment on them, and give them traits of the flood, such as regenerative abilities. The Halo rings would be the perfect place to do this because there are probably plenty of flood samples, there are secure areas designed for containment, and that if something goes wrong the survivors can just abandon the rings and leave the humans the are infected stuck on the rings with no way off.

This would explain the large amount of human flood forms on both halo 04 and Halo 05. Ackerson was running his experiments when something went or they just didn't do enough research on the flood and there was a flood outbreak. Maybe it even explains the Juggernaut flood which were left out of the game. They would be Infected Spartan Clones.

So now that we know that Ackerson is making Spartan Clones, we must ask what he plans to do with his private army. Will he give it to the UNSC to defeat the covenant at Earth? Will he use them for his own purposes so he can take over the UNSC?

In the past I have said(but not really believed) that Ackerson would use his clones to help the covenant. I no longer believe that. I do however still think it is possible that he has tried to kill the Master Chief twice. The First time was just after the MC had received his mark V armor. Ackerson tries to kill the MC using a squad of ODSTs, Chain Guns, Anti Tank mines, and orders a Jet to fire a Missile at him. The second time is later in The Fall of Reach.

0000 Hours, August 29, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
narrow-band point-to-point transmission: origin
UNKNOWN; termination: Section Three, Omega secure
antenna array, UNSC HQ Epsilon Eridani System, Reach
Military Complex

PLNB priority Transmission XX087R-XX
Encryption code:
GAMMA
Public Key: N/A
From: CODENAME: COALMINER
To: CODENAME: SURGEON
Subject: PROGRESS REPORT/OPERATION HYPODERMIC
Classification EYES ONLY TOP SECRET (SECTION III
X-RAY DIRECTIVE)

/file extraction-reconstitution complete/
/start file/

Secure space-dock repair bay. Corvette Circumference
undergoing final stealth upgrades. Shipyard records suc-
cessfully altered.

Queries detected from transient AI. Operation deemed AT
RISK of being uncovered.

As per contingency plan TANGO: ship registration num-
bers scrambled; hard isolated from dockside computer
network; counterintrusion software implemented; Alpha se-
curity protocols enacted onboard.
Just as you called it, sir. Don’t worry—as far as the sta-
ion computers are concerned, Circumference never
even existed.

/end file/
/scramble-destructuion process enabled/

Press ENTER to continue.


In Chapter 34 we can see the results of what was happening in this message:

Alpha priority channel: To Fleet Admiralty from REACH Space Dock Quartermaster AI-8575 (a.k.a Doppler)/
/triple-encryption time-stamped public key: red rover red rover/
/start file/
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED
Item: Covenant data invasion packets detected penetrating firewell of REACH DOC NET. Counterintrusion software enacted. Resolution: 99.9 percent certainty of neutralization.
Item: Initialization of triple-screening protocol discovered corvette Circumference/Bay Gamma-9/ isolated from REACH DOC NET.
Item Covenant ships detected on inbound Slipstream vector intersecting Bay Gamma-9
Conclusion Unsecured navigation data on Circumference detected by Covenant forces.
Conclusion: VIOLATION OF THE COLE PROTOCOL.
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED.

/end file/


Here is what I think was going on. Someone planted the ship and the unsecured NAV database so that it would only be detected by the AI onboard the repair station and the Covenant. The covenant would try to do anything to get there hands on the location of earth so they would send thousands of soldiers to retrieve the navigational data. The only chance the humans had of securing it would be to send in the Spartans, which would be killed in the confined space with thousands of covenant surrounding them.

The ship was undergoing stealth upgrades so that it would be hard to see when the station was being evacuated. If the ship wasn’t easily visible and it wasn’t in the computer network then it’s nav database would not be removed.

The registration numbers of the ship were scrambled so that it would be hard to trace it back to however is behind the plot. The ship was isolated from the computer network so that the database could not be wiped remotely and so the covenant would have to come and remove it physically. The Counterintrusion software has the same effect, the covenant would have to attack the station its self to get the navigational data.

I believe the person responsible for this was Ackerson. I don't have much proof it is him, but what other male character who works for ONI wants the Spartans dead?

If that isn't enough evidence against Ackerson, there is one more thing he has done.

In First Strike we find out that the covenant were scanning the Halo Drebis using Human frequencies.

"They're using the same scanning frequencies as our own system," Cortana said in his helmet speaker. "How strange. No mention of this phenomenon in any of the UNSC or ONI files on the covenant.

Later we find out that there is a covenant AI on board the Ascendant Justice, and it is very similar to Cortana.

She almost recognized this code. The patterns were maddeningly familiar.

Small portions of the aliensoftware looked like her. The odds of such a parallel evolution in computer science seemed improbable. It was almost as if it was her code...only copied many times, each with subtle errors introduced by the reapplication process.

I'm guessing that the cause of the covenant using human scanning frequencies was this AI. I would say that the covenant somehow stole a human AI. However, that can't be the case, because of this quote from Eric Nylund.

HSP: Covenant Cruisers scanning with Human frequencies in First Strike: a sign of their technology thievery?

EN: No, actually it is not. It's something else entirely.



Interesting. If the covenant did not steal this AI, then how did they get it? I think that the AI was given to them, by Colonel Ackerson.

We know that Dr. Halsey let ONI clone her brain so that they could make Cortana. We also know that Ackerson works for ONI. . I don’t think it would be too hard for him to make another clone of Dr. Halsey’s brain and create an AI.

He could “give” them an AI by leaving an AI either on a ship or a Planet, so that when the infiltrated the computer systems they would find it. Why would he give the Covenant an AI? Could it be too gather information about the covenant? To make contact with the covenant leadership? To lure the covenant to a human planet?

I also believe that Ackerson planted some of his clones with Halsey’s Spartan II. The following is from page 240 of The Fall of Reach.

Clustered around him were two dozen other Spartans

CONTINUED

  • 05.09.2006 1:01 PM PDT
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That is on August 27, 2552, during the briefing where they learn that there new mission is to capture a prophet. Dr. Halsey says that Three Spartans are too far away to be recalled, three have died in the last decade, and one is too injured to continue active duty. There is also Sam who was killed in 2525. That makes 25 Spartans out of the 33 that survived the Augmentations without serous side affects.


However on Page 7 of First Strike:

27 Spartans braced themselves

Remember that at this time there are 3 Spartans in space. That makes for a total of 30 Spartans. This is on August 30, 2552.

There is also this from page 276 of The Fall of Reach:

The Elevator doors opened. The Primary Storage bay had been converted in barracks for the thirty Spartans

That is also on August 30, 2552. So on August 27 there were 25 Spartans. On August 30th there were 30. So somehow there are 5 more Spartans than there should be. Even of the 3 Spartans that were too far away to be recalled came back and the one that was too injured was healed, one Spartan shouldn’t be alive.

So how could 5 more Spartans who shouldn’t be alive suddenly appear? The answer is cloning. And Colonel Ackerson had everything he needed to make clones of the Spartan IIs.

Johnson…

In Halo 2 Johnson tells us that how he escaped Halo is “classified.” In Halo First Strike we learn that he had Boren’s Syndrome, which is how he didn’t get infected by the flood. However, there are still gaps in the story, like how he got out of the structure in the swamp and ended up in space with an ODST and a ONI spook. I have an explanation…

Chapter 30 of The fall of Reach is a cryptic message from someone on Gamma station to someone in ONI. It is quoted both here and above:

0000 Hours, August 29, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
narrow-band point-to-point transmission: origin
UNKNOWN; termination: Section Three, Omega secure
antenna array, UNSC HQ Epsilon Eridani System, Reach
Military Complex

PLNB priority Transmission XX087R-XX
Encryption code:
GAMMA
Public Key: N/A
From: CODENAME: COALMINER
To: CODENAME: SURGEON
Subject: PROGRESS REPORT/OPERATION HYPODERMIC
Classification EYES ONLY TOP SECRET (SECTION III
X-RAY DIRECTIVE)

/file extraction-reconstitution complete/
/start file/

Secure space-dock repair bay. Corvette Circumference
undergoing final stealth upgrades. Shipyard records suc-
cessfully altered.

Queries detected from transient AI. Operation deemed AT
RISK of being uncovered.

As per contingency plan TANGO: ship registration num-
bers scrambled; hard isolated from dockside computer
network; counterintrusion software implemented; Alpha se-
curity protocols enacted onboard.
Just as you called it, sir. Don’t worry—as far as the sta-
ion computers are concerned, Circumference never
even existed.

/end file/
/scramble-destructuion process enabled/

Press ENTER to continue.


I believe Ackerson received this message. I don't have any real proof, except that the message was sent to ONI, and Ackerson works for them. Also, I think that out of all the characters that we know of, he is the most likely to be receiving this message.

Later on, we find Johnson and 3 other marines on Gamma station. i think that these marines were performing Ackerson's work on the Circumference.

I think that shows that Johnson was working for Ackerson.

In First Strike we Find Sergeant Johnson on a Pelican with an ODST and an ONI agent. Where did this pelican come from? All of the human’s pelicans from the POA except Echo 419 were aboard the Truth and Reconciliation when it crashed into the ring and was destroyed. We know that banshees shot down Echo 419 shortly before the POA blew up. How did he get on a pelican when he was supposed to be aboard the Truth and Reconciliation with all other UNSC personal except the chief?

To find out what happened to Johnson in this time we have to listen to the paranoid marine in the level 343 Guilty Spark. Two of the most important quotes are below.

Play dead! That's what I did... played dead. They took the live ones... oh, God, I can still hear them!
When he says “they” he is not referring to flood. We know this because the flood also takes dead things. The Gravemind took Regret when he was dead, and in the level Keys Cortana says
Look, in the corners. The Flood are gathering bodies.
So we know that he wasn’t referring to the flood. He must have played dead to avoid being taking by someone else…

Sarge? Mendoza? Bisenti? Oh, God... the things took them... <mumbles and cries> They're gone! Get it? Gone!
This is more proof he is not talking about the flood. Sarge was not taken by the flood. However, he was arrantly taken by someone, or something else. My Guess is he was taken by Ackerson’s men.

Here is my idea of what happened to Johnson:

Johnson and a few marines are fighting the flood when Ackerson's men (probably Spartan IIIs) come into the room and kill the flood. They then capture the live humans and take them to their base on the ring. Before halo is destroyed, Johnson escapes on a Pelican from their base.


About the Novels

Some of you that read this are probably thinking that the books and the games are separate, and that the books are just glorified fan fiction. That is incorrect. The authors of the books worked closely with Bungie, and were given access to the Halo Bible, which contains the story of Halo and information about all the events and characters in the Halo universe. They had to follow the story that Bungie had already written and everything they wrote had to be approved by Bungie. There is also this quote from Joseph Staten, Cinematic Director at Bungie Studios.
The books are, for better or worse, part of the canon. In the future we may choose to revise or flat-out ignore some of the less appealing ideas (Johnson's biological immunity to the Flood, for example), but folks should treat them as defining elements of the Halo universe.

And to Eagle 117: Sorry about the title

UPDATE

Chapter 30 of The Fall of Reach(which can be found above. Twice.), mentions an operation HYPODERMIC. This is the cahpter where we learn of the work on the corvette Circumference. In this theory I have speculated that the ship may be a trap, but there is something else interesting about it. Maybe the changes to the ship were the last part of the operation. The Defijtion of Hypodermic is:

1. Of or relating to the layer just beneath the epidermis.
2. Relating to the hypodermis.
3. Injected beneath the skin.

Could the purpose of operation HYPODERMIC be to "inject" something into the Spartan program? Something like 5 clones? Chapter 30 takes place on the 29th, which is between the 27th, where there were 25 Spartans, and the 30th, where there were 30....

You wrote this about Halo2, what does it have to do with Halo 3?

If earth has fallen and has been taken over by the covenant, that is the time for Ackerson to use his Spartan Clones. I think he has his own objective and we may get to see Colonel Ackerson and his Spartan Clones in Halo 3. Ackerson seems to know a little bit about the Forerunner and the artifacts that they leave behind, and I believe that he is definitly up to something. We first heard about Spartan Clones in Halo 1, and I believe that it is possible that we will finally get to see them in Halo 3.

  • 05.09.2006 1:05 PM PDT

Look for the back

u know that bungie said that the books and games are seperate

  • 05.09.2006 4:44 PM PDT
Subject: Speculation about Clones...
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  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

Even if they are seperate... That makes perfect sense, good job opog

  • 05.09.2006 4:57 PM PDT

i would like a wee bit o credit....

  • 05.09.2006 5:02 PM PDT
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Use other Thread

  • 05.09.2006 5:04 PM PDT
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  • last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT

This should be put on wikipedia...

  • 05.10.2006 1:14 PM PDT