HALO 3

CHAPTER 1: ARRIVAL

High in the sky, Truth's Forerunner vessel makes a trail like a comet. Cortana, in a voice-over, is thinking to herself. She could have chosen any of the Spartans, but she chose John. Why? Because he had a great deal of something more than all the other Spartans: luck.

A smaller comet breaks off of the larger one... John, who has fallen off of his ride. He crashes down to the Earth in a ball of fire.

Later, Sergeant-Major Johnson and some troops find him in a jungle. The gel layer of the Mjolnir armor took most of the impact and seized up, but John sustained no injuries. But at first they think he's dead. Johnson removes the chip that was supposed to have Cortana's processor unit in it, and notices it's not there. When John comes to, and Johnson is done chiding him for “always jumping,” Johnson asks him where Cortana is. John informs him that Cortana stayed behind.

Just then, a large, semi-invisible figure walks in among the troops. John reacts instantly, grabs a gun, and rushes it as the cloak fades, revealing the Arbiter, Thel 'Vadam. Johnson calls out at John to stop. Thel was with them, an ally. John relents.

Thel mentions that they needed to get going. The Brutes had their scent. John was handed a bigger weapon.

CHAPTER 2: SIERRA 117

Johnson radios in to Bravo and tells them that they found what they were looking for, and orders them to head to the extraction point. It was time to go.

The team makes their way through the jungle, fighting Brute-led Covenant forces along the way. (No Elites are encountered. They have left the Covenant.) During the trip one of the troops mentions that the Brutes are really strong. Thel says it's from fear, and that all those who follow the Prophets will be punished.

The team eventually splits up. Johnson and some men head off to find Bravo, while John and Thel with some troops continue to make their way to the LZ.

John has a strange vision while he's walking. He sees Cortana's face and hears her voice, but it's all fuzzy. She asks him if he sacrificed her to complete his mission. Nearby troops asked him if he was okay since he not only fazed out for a moment, but his vitals pinned “KIA” for a second.

Eventually they arrive at the LZ to find the place overrun with Covenant! Two Pelicans, one with Johnson on it, are trying to land, but they both get shot down. One explodes, but the one with Johnson falls out of sight. New mission: find Johnson!

In time John locates Johnson's downed Pelican, but not Johnson himself. He had to keep looking. After some more exploring, he and Thel come across an old station. Lots of Covenant are there, and so is Johnson... as their prisoner. Thel notes that the Brutes are using him as bait.

John and Thel, along with their troops, shoot up the place and rescue Johnson. Johnson then radios in for evac. They hold out for a bit, and then an armed Pelican drops in and blows up incoming Covenant reinforcements. Now it's off to a nearby base, Crow's Nest.

CHAPTER 3: CROW'S NEST

Commander Miranda Keyes is there waiting for them all. She exchanges pleasantries with John as they head inside.

Truth's fleet broke through Earth's defenses and smashed what was left of the home fleet. Terrestrial casualties from the bombardment that came soon after were extreme. Truth interestingly then chose to commit all his forces to East Africa, specifically the nearby ruins of New Mombasa. He landed and started digging. Apparently he was looking for something called the “Ark,” a place where he could control all the Halos. (It was 343 Guilty Spark who, on the second Halo, informed Keyes that the only place the Halos could all be destroyed was on this “Ark.”)

Keyes contacts Lord Hood, who is happy to see John again. He has Keyes explain her plan to John. Turns out that Truth's ships are clustered over New Mombasa and anti-aircraft (AA) guns have all the airspace covered. One of the AA gun sections was going to be taken out, and then a low-flying attack would spear through the resulting hole. Hood is confident they could pull it off now that John is with them.

Suddenly the transmission is interrupted and Truth's form comes on the screen. Practically oozing venom in his words, he tells them all that they're going to die. The coming fire will consume them, and Earth will be destroyed. Even the demon will be destroyed.

Keyes gives the order to evacuate. She discerns that they're about to get hit. When asked for a rally point, she just says, “To war.” A trooper remarks that perimeter cameras have gone offline, and trackers aren't responding. Then overwatch radios in that they have contacts - lots of of them. Keyes orders all Pelicans five or less minutes away to return, and all the rest are to escape. A trooper observes that there were so many wounded it would take extra time to move them all.

John goes and helps with the perimeter defense, and then he returns. He sees that Keyes had set up a giant bomb in his absence. She was going to blow up the place. Now it's really time to evacuate!

On his way out, John runs into Thel, half firing on the enemy and half preaching to them about the lies of the so-called Prophets. Together they rescue some troops. John then hears a comm from Johnson to Keyes that the Brutes have overwhelmed the command center and disarmed the bomb. While Thel and the rest of the humans escaped, John was going to have to go back and rearm the bomb. Keyes tells him that she'll radio him with another exit.

John fights his way back to the command center. There he sees some Brutes using the communication equipment to speak to Truth. Truth wants his Brutes to find out how the humans were planning on stopping him, and he wants to know what they know about the Ark. He threatens damnation to any who fail him in these tasks. John walks in and mows them all down once the comm is over. He proceeds to arm the bomb again.

Keyes radios John and informs him of a service elevator in the hangar that he can use to escape. He fights his way to it and escapes.

During all of this, John keeps getting more strange visions of Cortana. “You have been called to serve.” “You will be the protector of Earth and all her colonies.” “There is a great deal of hardship ahead.” “You will become the best we can make you.” “This place will become you home.” “This place will become your tomb.”

CHAPTER 4: TSAVO HIGHWAY

John meets up with some troops in a Warthog lot as he discovers that comm systems are in a jam. Keyes can't get a clear signal to him. His only goal for the present can be to lead troops on away from the former Crow's Nest. Before him lays the seemingly post-apocalyptic Tsavo highway outside of New Mombasa.

Eventually Keyes is able to get a clear transmission to John. She mentions that Truth has found something in his digging: some kind of huge Forerunner artifact. She can only imagine that it's the Ark. Johnson cuts in and tells John to make his way toward the nearby town of Voi.

John comes across a few holographic projections of Truth along his journey on the highway. It's all propaganda intended to strengthen the faith of Covenant troops. Truth does mention, however, that he's gotten the Forerunner artifact working.

In time John makes his way toward Voi, and eventually the troops with him get picked up by Keyes in a Pelican. Over radio, John hears Keyes send a message to Hood to tell him that they had survived the fall of Crow's Nest. Hood is happy to hear this, and reminds UNSC forces that they're near their goal. It was time to take back their city and put the Covenant into the holes they've been digging.

CHAPTER 5: THE STORM

It was time, more specifically, to make the hole in the AA defenses. Hood needed his opening to strike. John, with additional troops and now even Thel, makes his way to a number of AA guns and blows 'em up. He even gets ambushed by a Scarab, but he and his troops manage to take it out.

Later John directly observes - and hears about on the radio - a huge storm forming around the colossal (and flat) Forerunner Ark. Keyes reports to Hood that the Ark is powering up and its energy readings are spiking. She also mentions that a single Covenant ship has just emerged from slipspace in Earth orbit. Hood tells her that it didn't change anything. This was their one chance to take out Truth.

John also experiences a few more visions of Cortana. “I have defied gods and demons.” “I am your shield and your sword.”

After the last AA goes down, John watches from a distance as Hood's capital ships and Longswords move in for the kill. Just then, the massive Forerunner artifact begins to move. It was all one big machine of some kind! A blinding, stunning light overtakes everything. John hears Cortana say, “This is how the world ends.”

After the light vanishes, Hood asks Keyes if Truth had activated the Halos. Keyes says no, but didn't know what he did. John and Thel now see a massive ball of energy over the site, and Truth's Forerunner ship rises and passes into it. All the Covenant ships follow it. It was a portal of some kind.

Overhead, John and Thel then see something else: a Covenant ship flying in from orbit. But it's clearly damaged and... partly green? It crashes nearby. Thel thinks it's Covenant, but John tells him what it really is: the Flood.

CHAPTER 6: FLOODGATE

Keyes reports to Hood over the radio that Flood are overrunning all their ground forces. Keyes orders John to blow up the Covenant ship by setting off its reactor. It's the only way to defeat them. John and Thel head off to it. Flood are everywhere.

As they near the crashed vessel, Covenant ships and transports appear overhead, and Elites emerge from them! John and Thel get a radio message from the Elite carrier Shadow of Intent: humans should clear out. Elites would take care of the infestation. John and Thel move in to help.

John, meanwhile, sees Cortana again: “It's not safe. The Gravemind knows everything.”

An Elite eventually approaches Thel and informs him that High Charity has fallen to the Flood. When Thel asks how this was possible despite so many ships, the Elite just says, “They evolved.” One of the Flood-infested ships, the Elite adds, broke away and headed here.

Later, John gets a shocking message from Keyes. The Elites were searching the Covenant ship for Cortana! Johnson butts in and orders John to find her.

John, Thel, and a squad of Elites battle their way through the Flood to get at the Covenant ship. Once they arrive, Thel and the Elites stay back to make sure no following Flood get through into the ship.

Inside, it's almost like John has gone inside a living creature. Everything is covered with organic, living tissue, and it's all wet and pulsing. In time he locates a device that has Cortana in it. She appears, but only for a moment and then vanishes.

Just then, a Phantom can be seen overhead through a hole in the hull, and 343 Guilty Spark(!) drops down from it, once again referring to John as “reclaimer.” John is about to shoot it, but Guilty blasts a Flood creature behind him. Without missing a beat, Guilty then uses energy to pick up the device with Cortana on it. John stops him, citing that Guilty tried to kill both of them the last time they met. Guilty explains that protocol demanded such an action given that Cortana was keeping the Index from him during a Flood outbreak. Plus, the Halo was threatened with destruction. But now that the Halo was gone, protocol demanded that Guilty assist the reclaimer in any way possible.

John allows him to take Cortana's device, and they leave in the Phantom. As it flies off, Elite carriers can be seen “glassing” (scorching) the land for miles around with plasma weapons.

John, Keyes, and Hood now find themselves on the Shadow of Intent. Guilty is trying to repair the device but is unsure that he can. Hood offers one his technicians, but the Elite shipmaster insists that it won't be necessary. Suddenly Cortana pops up as Guilty is working, and she tells John that High Charity is on its way to Earth with an army of Flood. She can't tell him everything because the Gravemind is difficult to keep at bay.

John discerns that it isn't really Cortana herself, but just a message left by her.

Cortana continues. The Gravemind doesn't know about the portal created by the Forerunner artifact on Earth. It doesn't know that it leads to a place where the Flood can be destroyed once and for all, and without the Halos! It's called the “Ark.” The message then dies as Cortana weakens and collapses, in pain.

So Earth's artifact wasn't the Ark after all!

The shipmaster pronounces that the Elites will go into the portal to kill all the Brutes and the bastard Truth. Hood says that the humans will stay behind, taking up a last stand against the incoming High Charity. The shipmaster reminds him that the humans couldn't possibly survive. They couldn't even handle a small infestation! Hood yells at him for glassing half a continent. He adds that maybe the Flood wasn't all he should worry about. The shipmaster informs Hood that he'd have glassed the whole planet to assuredly take out the Flood if it hadn't been for the Arbiter's counsel.

Keyes suggests that humans go with the Elites and search for the solution Cortana hinted at, but Hood wasn't having it. For all he knew the message, and Cortana herself, was corrupted. It could be a Flood trap. No, all the humans needed to remain to fight off High Charity.

The shipmaster says that if Cortana was wrong, then the Flood had already won. At this point John jumps into the conversation and volunteers to search for Cortana's solution on the Ark. Hood asks if John trusts Cortana that much, and he gets a “yes sir” in response. Hood finally relents and agrees to send forces through the portal with the Elites. Besides, he adds, if it was the wrong decision, he likely wouldn't live long enough to know.

Elite and human troops muster together, Johnson among them, and the carriers held into the portal...

CHAPTER 7: THE ARK

The carriers emerge over what looks like a gargantuan, flat flower in space, its entire inner surface like that of a planet. The Ark.

Covenant carriers outnumber the Elite carriers three to one. The battle begins.

John and Johnson are preparing to go to the surface inside a Pelican. Keyes radios to Johnson that Truth's ship was not taking part in the space battle. He had landed on the surface. Johnson said they were on their way.

The Pelican landed, and John and the others emerge from it. The goal is to secure an LZ for Keyes' frigate, Forward Unto Dawn, while gathering intel.

A desperate battle rages overhead in space. Explosions can be seen from the surface of the Ark, and radio chatter is intense.

As John is fighting off Covenant forces, sentinels arrive and begin to help him. Or, more specifically, they simply did not attack humans. One soldier wondered if they'd ever change their mind.

Keyes radios John to tell him that scans have located a Cartographer - a Map Room - like the one on the first Halo. No doubt it would come in very handy. But first things first: secure an LZ!

After a great deal of vehicle battle the LZ is secured and the Forward Unto Dawn lands. It was now time to head to Map Room. 343 Guilty Spark joins John so that it can open any locked doors. Keyes informs John that the Covenant has also found the Map Room and has barricaded it.

The battle to the Map Room is intense. John even has to take out a Scarab, for which he receives a compliment from the Elite shipmaster (“We could see the explosion from space!”). The shipmaster also reiterates his desire to kill Truth, and Keyes assures him that Truth will be taken out.

Outside the Map Room structure Thel joins John and Guilty.

John fights his way to the Map Room itself, which is surrounded by a massive and majestic waterfall. Thel standing off to his side, John activates the Cartographer and an image of the Milky Way shows up. John realizes that the Ark is well beyond the borders of his galaxy! Guilty confirms that the Ark is 2^18 lightyears from the Milky Way!

Guilty says that he'd always assumed the Ark was a shield installation, but he was wrong. The Forerunners didn't supply him with all knowledge, but only what he needed in case he fell into Flood hands.

John asks where Truth is. Guilty informs him that “the Meddler” has dug in at one the Ark's core, and has triggered a barrier to form around it. The barrier would be very difficult to disable. Guilty is wondering why the Forerunners would install such a comprehensive defense, but then becomes shocked. John asks why, and Guilty is about to answer, but Covenant forces suddenly attack. It still manages to call out that they needed to get past the barrier or the Meddler would destroy it all!

John and Thel retreat to evac one level down, and have to go through a small army of Brutes to do it. But they make it, of course. Johnson shows up in a Pelican. Just then, an epic swarm of sentinels begins to pass by. Johnson is about to attack them, but Guilty stops him. It explains that the sentinels mean no harm to the humans, but have a priority task to take care of. Be it didn't know what that was.

Guilty asks to be brought to a terminal closer to the Ark's core. Then he might be able to know what the sentinels were up to. Thel says that they had to stop Truth, and Keyes agrees. Guilty is confused as to why they weren't making the destruction of the Flood their top priority, but Keyes explains that Truth was a bigger threat because he was aiming to activate the Halos. Nothing else mattered but stopping him.

CHAPTER 8: THE COVENANT

The plan is to disable three shield generator towers in order to punch a hole in the barrier surrounding Truth and the Ark's core. John would attack #1, Thel #2, and Johnson #3. Each would have a lot of troops and firepower behind them. Elites would assist, of course. The Covenant would be ready for them at all three generators.

John and Thel successfully disable their generators, but Johnson gets pinned down and is forced to call for help. Keyes sends in John and Thel to give it. After battling their way to the third tower, they manage to disable the generator but Johnson is missing.

Now that the barrier has a hole in it, the Elite shipmaster moves in his carrier. Suddenly High Charity can be seen coming out of the Earth-portal! As it flies on a collision course with the Ark it sends out careening rocks full of Flood spores and creatures. One of them rips through the carrier and critically damages it. The shipmaster reports that weapons are offline.

Other rocks strike John and Thel's tower and Flood begin to emerge. By radio, 343 Guilty Spark calls out that they must make containment a priority, but Keyes disagrees. Truth has to remain the focus. Now that the Elite carrier was down, it was up to John and Thel alone to take down Truth.

John and Thel tackle their way through lots of Flood and Covenant toward the Citadel at the Ark's core. They even have to go through not one but two Scarabs to do it - at the same time!

Thel makes it to the entrance first. As John approaches Thel informs him that the Flood are nearing. They would soon be upon the Citadel. Thel swears that the Prophet would die by his hand and not the Flood's. He would have his revenge!

Guilty, now with them, opens the Citadel for them to enter.

Inside, there is a public broadcast from Truth. The time of the Great Journey was at hand, and all who were not worthy would burn while the rest entered into Transcendence. The video feed accompanying the broadcast shows a Brute man-handling Johnson! Worse, they had a human so now they could activate the Halos! Keyes asks John how close he is, but John can only say, “Not close enough.”

Meanwhile, Johnson is trying to taunt the Brutes into killing him. But Truth sees through the ploy and orders them to stop beating him. The Brutes are just about to force Johnson onto the Halo activation panel when a Pelican crashes through large nearby window. Miranda Keyes hops out, and tries to fight off the Brutes. But, sadly, there are too many. She decides that she'll now have to kill both Johnson and herself to keep Truth from having his human. Johnson understands.

But Keyes hesitates, and is fatally shot. She dies moments later on the floor. Truth tells a grieving Johnson that compassion was a weakness, and the “gods” (the Forerunners) were wise to abandon it. They knew how to do what needed to be done.

Johnson is forced to activate the Halo Array.

Elsewhere, nearby, John and Thel arrive at an elevator shaft. Just as they're about to make a sprint for Truth, two Flood creatures get in their path. But they mean no harm and only want to communicate. Through them the Gravemind says that he will clear a path for them. And so he does this, doing most of the work with his Flood to wipe out the small army of Brutes guarding Truth.

Along the way, Truth continues through holograms to spread propaganda. He claims that “the heretic” is to blame for the Flood. It was an act of treachery, the darkest betrayal, a final and desperate curse to stop the Great Journey.

John has another vision of Cortana: “It asked, I answered. For a moment of safety I loosed damnation upon the stars.”

John and Thel arrive at their destination to find Keyes in Johnson's arms. Johnson tells them in a sad, defeated voice to stop the rings. Thel approaches Truth, now being overcome with Flood in his body, who tells him that the Elites never did believe in the Great Journey, the promise of the Sacred Rings. Gravemind says through him that the Great Journey was “lies for the weak, beacons for the deluded.” Thel kills him with an energy sword.

Johnson carries Keyes back into the Pelican in which she arrived.

Everything started to shake. Huge tentacles start to climb up the walls and over the floors of the room. A voice, Gravemind, says (in his own way) that his time has come. Thel observes that they have traded one villain for another. Johnson lifts off in the Pelican, and John and Thel try to jump onboard, but the tentacles stop them. Johnson is then cut off from them, and tells them they'll have to find their own way out.

Flood are everywhere. John and Thel battle their way back to the elevator but find it non-functional. They jump down a nearby shaft. At the bottom, John sees a flickering Cortana turn around a corner. He follows her. This keeps going for a bit until John and Thel arrive at a control panel. John activates it.

The two of them look in awe as a partially complete Halo rises out of a vast ocean. It was a replacement Halo for the one John destroyed! John notices that 343 Guilty Spark has arrived, and asks it how long it knew. Guilty says it was news to him, but he had his hopes. Guilty asks John what he'd do. John says, “Light it.”

The Halo, activated alone, would wipe out all sentient life on the Ark, including the Flood, but the galaxy was far enough away to be safe. Guilty was overjoyed that he and the reclaimer were in agreement, and sped off toward the rising Halo to prepare it. Thel asks John how he planned to light the Halo. John just looked across the landscape to the ruin of High Charity.

CHAPTER 9: CORTANA

John arrives at High Charity. By radio, Johnson informs him that he'll evacuate the humans, and the Arbiter will evacuate the Elites. Cortana, he reminds John, was in High Charity somewhere.

High Charity looks like the interior of the Covenant vessel John was in earlier: almost entirely organic. It's saturated - overflowing - with Flood.

John has a number of visions of Cortana and Gravemind as he searches the mess. Gravemind calls humanity the child of his enemy, and that he has no forgiveness, and the sins of the father pass to the son. It also tells John that Cortana and it are now one. They are two corpses sharing one grave. Cortana, meanwhile, has gone pretty much crazy. She sob-laughs, cries out nonsense like “nice to meet you, what's your name? Do you like games?” Yet, she also at times admits what has happened to her. She is just “her mother's shadow.” She tells John not to listen to her, that she's not who she used to be.

Gravemind seems to be trying to get something from Cortana. She's still aware enough to fight it, to hide something from it. It cries out that she must submit.

In time John finds a terminal and through it, Cortana. She's very happy to see John, and he tells her that he keeps his promises. She says that she knows how to pick 'em after all. She shows him what she still has: the Index to the first Halo! John would need it to activate the Halo. Now it becomes clear that John wanted to save Cortana, certainly, but he also needed what she had.

John puts Cortana back into his armor.

Gravemind is furious now that he knows what she was hiding.

On the way out, as suggested by Cortana, John causes the reactors of High Charity to go critical. He also runs into Thel who is paving a way for him to get to a Pelican! Cortana is shocked to see that Thel is now a “friendly.” She wants to know what else she missed!

John, Thel, and Cortana escape in the Pelican. Gravemind's tentacles weren't able to hold onto it, but it did manage to do some damage.

CHAPTER 10: HALO

John and Thel are flying off to the partially constructed Halo. The Elite shipmaster confirms that all have been evacuated. He wants to know if Thel will be joining him. Thel says that he must see the battle finished. On video intercom Johnson expresses happiness at seeing Cortana back. He also says that he's going to land the Forward Unto Dawn as close as he safely can to the Halo's Control Room in order to provide backup to John and Thel who are also making their way to it.

On the surface, John and Thel battle through Flood in their journey to the Control Room. Johnson eventually joins them. At first, 343 Guilty Spark (who has been here since before John left for High Charity) won't let them in. Too much Flood. Only when things calm down a bit (after a nearly last-stand battle) does he open the doors.

Inside, the Gravemind says something, and Cortana realizes that it's trying to rebuild and re-establish itself on the Halo.

Once in the huge Control Room, John hands Cortana to Johnson so he can activate the Halo. Johnson promises that he won't let anything happen to her, not after losing Keyes.

Guilty is happy to report that the Halo will be ready to safely fire in just a few days. Johnson replies that they don't have a few days, and that he was going to ignite the Halo right now. Guilty cries out that if the Halo was activated at this time then it would be destroyed, and so would the Ark! Johnson expresses a lack of concern. This finally pushes Guilty over the edge. It starts to glow red.

Guilty blasts Johnson with point-blank plasma! Then he fires at Thel and John to keep them back, screaming that it was wrong to help them. It adds that humans, as the reclaimers, are the children of his masters and the inheritors of all that was theirs. Humans are Forerunner, he says. But then he finishes with, “But this ring is mine.”

John is forced to destroy Guilty in a pitched battle.

After the battle is over, John approaches Johnson who is on his last breath. Johnson hands him Cortana, and tells John to never let her go. He passes with one request: send him out with a bang.

John has Cortana provide the Index, and he activates the Halo. Everything starts to fall apart as the Halo powers up.

While running to escape, Thel expresses his condolences for Johnson. Cortana lets them both know that the Forward Unto Dawn is stationed some ways away, and that they can use Johnson's Warthog to make the trip before Halo went off.

The journey is intense. The Halo is falling apart and swarming with Flood, but John floors the pedal and just keeps going, dodging obstacles as they arise. Thel mans the gun turret in the back. Meanwhile, Cortana remotely powers up the ship.

John and Thel eventually make into the ship, but they have to jump a chasm to it. John immediately puts Cortana into a terminal, and she pilots the ship away as fast as she can toward the still-open portal to Earth. Far behind them the Halo and Ark explode, and their gargantuan shockwave is approaching them fast.

Cortana says to John, “If we don't make it, it's been an honor serving with you John.” John calmly says, “We'll make it.”

-------

Lord Hood is on Earth at a memorial service for all those who have fallen in the Human-Covenant War. Thel is there as well, with Shadow of Intent floating off in the distance. Hood gives a heart-felt speech about bravery and sacrifice. Flashbacks are seen of the remains of Forward Unto Dawn crashing into one of Earth's oceans, and a rescue effort that produces Thel, but not John or Cortana.

“117” is scratched onto the memorial. Hood, after the service, tells Thel that he can't forgive the Elites or the Covenant for what they did to humanity, but still wants to thank Thel for standing by John in the end. They shake hands. Hood says, “It's hard to believe he's dead,” to which Thel replies, “Were it so easy for him to die.” They part ways.

Now back on the Elite carrier, Thel is approached by the shipmaster. The shipmaster says that things look different now that the Prophets were not clouding everything with their lies. He also wants to go back to their homeworld to make sure it's safe. Thel assures him that it is, and that they've made it so. “By your word, Arbiter.” is the reply. Thel takes command, and orders them home.

After the ending credits and a pause, we see John still alive in the aft section of the Forward Unto Dawn. He asks Cortana what happened. Cortana explains that the portal couldn't sustain itself when the Halo and Ark were destroyed. They had made it in at the last moment, but the the ship broke in half. The half containing John and Cortana fell out of the portal's space into an unknown sector within the galaxy.The fate of Thel was likewise unknown.

It was finished, Cortana says. The Covenant and the Flood have been defeated.

A beacon would be dropped, but it would be a long time before they were found. Probably years. John places himself in cryogenic stasis as Cortana says, “I'll miss you.”

“Wake me when you need me,” John replies.

-------

The last thing we see is the remains of the ship floating toward a planet...

TO BE CONTINUED IN HALO 4 ~

TERMINAL TEXT

In the game there are seven hidden terminals, each with strange messages. They can be read by clicking here.