She dared me to call it, and I did.
For luck.
They're responsible, Kai. For Reach.
-For Vannak. -The Covenant's responsible.
The Covenant didn't take our armor.
Centuries of work can be undone
by the smallest of oversights.
[yells]
How did you choose me?
I didn't choose you. I found you.
When things fall apart, you're never there.
You ran from the Spartan program.
You ran from the Rubble.
-Who took Kessler? -[Laera] The UNSC.
[John] They're still making Spartans.
-[Laera] What is this place? -Thermopylae.
[Kai] Infiltrate the ship,
deliver the Spike.
[Kwan gasps] I know this.
What is it doing here?
What is this place?
[Halsey] It's where it all began.
[Miranda] Without your research, I never would have been able
to discover your mistake.
[Cortana] If you were to use the Artifact
to project yourself back to the Halo,
you could determine its location in the stars.
I can't go there without him.
Perhaps I can help.
[John] Cortana.
[Cortana] The Covenant's going to find the Halo, Chief.
It is imperative that you get there first.
You need to touch the Artifact.
He said that you let the whole planet burn.
Sometimes events are beyond our control.
-You can't trust him. -[Kai] But I do.
I always have.
[Uto 'Mdama] The transmission came from this human device.
See my heart. I would never betray you.
[yells]
[dramatic music playing]
[Makee] As a child, I came here in my imagination.
-I always thought it was... -[John] A dream.
[Makee] ...alive.
I try to understand what it wants from me.
Why me?
Why you?
[John] Look at me.
I saw you.
On Reach.
With the Sangheili.
The Arbiter is a soldier.
Like you.
You brought the Covenant there.
Millions of people.
Gone.
-Because of you. -Because of war.
If you could burn High Charity to embers, would you hesitate?
There's a difference. You're human.
Am I? Are you?
What if there are no sides?
Only life and death.
Light and dark. Us and them.
We are not the same.
You don't believe that.
I needed to see your eyes.
To know that you understand what needs to be done.
You found it.
You can't bring the Covenant here.
Do you understand?
If they control the Halo...
They will annihilate humankind.
And if the humans control it, they'll annihilate the Covenant.
This is all they know.
The Ring does more than destroy.
It holds the seed of life itself.
We could build a world here.
A place of peace.
They're not gonna let that happen.
They don't decide.
The Ring doesn't belong to them. It belongs to us.
Oh, I see it now.
The difference between us.
You doubt.
[ticking music plays]
[ominous sound]
Move.
You need to move.
[comms crackling]
[sharp gasp]
[thunderous shockwave]
[panicked chatter]
[rumbling]
Everybody out!
[grunts]
[growls]
[blade sizzles]
[dying roar]
[grunts]
[deep breath]
[soft gasp]
[dramatic music playing]
[swords whoosh]
-[swords whoosh] -[Makee grunts]
[grunting and growling]
[panting]
[running footsteps]
[screams]
[huffing]
[low snarling]
[roars]
That's not very nice.
What treachery is this?
I could ask you the same thing, Uto 'Mdama.
You know me?
I know many things, priest.
Where is the human?
I am afraid you will have to be more specific.
The 'Blessed One.'
Oh...
Behind you.
[sharp gasp]
[Makee grunts]
I bless you.
[yells]
-[heavy thud] -[dying breath]
[breathing heavily]
[Cortana] Did you find it?
[Makee] The map. Show me.
[uplifting music playing]
[Makee] There.
[dramatic music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
I take it your strike team
has failed to locate Master Chief.
Allow me to help you. He's with the Artifact.
[Ackerson] Captain Briggs's team was moving in
on the target when--
If people learn that Master Chief in fact is not dead,
it'll lead to inconvenient questions
about Reach, don't you think?
About who knew what, and when.
Well, we won't have to worry about that.
Did you say "we"?
You were in charge.
Acting on your orders.
But I'm not even in the ONI.
What's taking so long? Where's the feed?
[Smith] Coming back online now, ma'am.
Signal reacquired, ma'am.
We're tracking the Covenant Cruiser.
It just exited slipspace in the Soell system.
That's a Covenant battle group.
That's the entire First Fleet of Solemn Accord.
-What's wrong with it? -It's the signal, ma'am.
There's significant energy
coming from the center of that system.
Solar flare. Nova activity. Black hole.
Contact Admiral Stanforth
to dispatch the UNSC fleet from Sector 3.
Ready the Spartan-IIIs.
My Spartan-IIIs were trained to execute specialized missions.
I thought you said they were ready?
They're elite soldiers.
They're not designed to assault a Covenant fleet without--
It's your job to prepare them. I decide how they're used.
Now, if there's nothing else, I suggest you find him.
It's not a black hole.
[door chimes]
[heavy footsteps]
[door chimes and slides open]
[heavy footsteps]
[quietly suspenseful music plays]
[door slides open]
[Briggs] John-117, stop where you are.
On your knees.
We have orders to take you in.
Those aren't your orders.
He's resisting. Take him down.
I said take him down.
Shoot him.
I've been on that side of the gun.
I didn't ask questions.
I didn't want to know.
[Briggs] Pull the trigger!
But we always know, don't we?
I gave you an order, Lieutenant.
She knows you can't take a bullet back.
That's why she wants it to be yours.
But if you're gonna kill me...
at least look me in the eyes.
What are you doing? I said engage!
Do it yourself.
Stop right there!
Didn't ask for your help.
[Kai] Were you gonna do it?
[doors clack and whirr]
[Miranda] This structure might not be stable, we should go.
[Halsey] We're not going anywhere.
Whoever designed this complex built the Halo.
What is this place?
It's a repository for knowledge, like a library.
Or a religious site.
[Halsey] As the original lead scientist on this project,
I can assure you it is a library.
As you can see from the node walls...
[Miranda] Like you'd find in a church or a chapel.
Got it.
You have no idea.
Thanks.
You said something about a mistake.
[Miranda] Did I?
[Halsey] Yes, you said I made a mistake.
[Miranda] When you solved the first cipher back in the day,
you did so according to your own familiar principles.
Data, mathematics.
And you unlocked the first alcove.
-Simple. -It wasn't that simple.
-It took me weeks to solve it. -It took you four months.
I have your notes, remember?
[loud rumbling]
You opened this one.
But what you overlooked is that the cipher
isn't just mathematical.
It's also linguistic.
In this case, a complex ideographic system
with a number of logographic traits, some phonemes...
Do you think this will take a long time?
It'll take less than four months.
[thud, loud rumble]
[mysterious hiss]
[Halsey exhales]
What was inside?
You first.
Whatever you found wasn't in your notes.
Tell me.
DNA.
Theirs.
And ours.
[gasps softly]
[dramatic music playing]
[overlapping chatter]
[Jones] I have the commander of the lead Condor.
-Name's Bookman. -Put him through.
[surrounding chatter continues]
Commander Bookman, this is Admiral Parangosky.
Can your team hear me?
[Bookman, over P.A.] Yes, ma'am.
Our enemy's about to learn
that there's a cost to tangling with humanity.
I'm asking you to deliver the bill.
-Can you do that for me? -Yes, ma'am.
Arrow Team, make ready. On my mark.
Godspeed.
Spartans on the beam.
[combat sounds]
-[loud crash] -[static crackles, alarm beeps]
[Jones] Condor-Hotel-Tango-3, come in.
[background chatter]
Condor-Charlie-November-2 radio check.
All assassin Condors, this TAC-CON ONYX, over.
Any Assassin Condors, respond.
Deploy the second wave.
-[officer] Yes, Admiral. -What?
No, the first wave just got obliterated
and now you're sending more?
What do you expect will happen?
I expect they'll follow their orders.
Admiral...
don't do this.
Tell me the moment our Condors exit slipspace.
[Ackerson] This is unsound.
How many Spartan-IIIs are you willing to sacrifice?
All of them.
This isn't just another battle.
What do you think is at the center of that system?
If the Covenant takes the Halo...
we won't live to fight another day.
There will be no more days.
[ominous music plays]
[Ackerson draws sharp breath]
[footsteps]
[dull clank]
[Laera] Where are we going?
They brought us to a place just like this.
We were kids.
Our trainers told us that the objective
was to defend the pass.
But that wasn't it.
What was the objective?
To learn... what it meant to call yourself a Spartan.
I fought with everything I had.
But they were soldiers. They were too big, too fast.
They had batons.
You had two options-- stand and bleed, or run.
Most ran.
Until you're in that situation...
[weapon clacking]
...you don't know what kind of person you are.
I wasn't brave.
I just kept moving forward
when others went back.
By the third night, there were only five of us left:
Me. Riz.
Vannak. Kai.
John.
[wind howls]
So we stood together.
[muffled blows]
And we fought together.
[muffled blows]
And we lost...
together.
What are we gonna do about Kessler?
Nothing.
What?
Tonight is his.
What are you saying?
If we take this away from him,
he'll never know which person he is.
What the hell did they do to you?
If you mean by "they,"
the people who stood by me no matter what?
I stand by you no matter what!
All that time you were obsessing about Halsey,
you weren't trying to bring her to justice.
You were trying to find your way back.
It meant something, being a Spartan.
You are not a Spartan.
You have a life.
You have a marriage.
You have a son.
And I'll be damned if anyone's going to hurt him.
He doesn't belong here.
I won't let them turn him into a killer.
And I won't let you.
-Laera... -[Laera] Don't!
[footsteps recede]
[indistinct P.A. announcement]
[weapons clatter]
Slow down.
I can't feel my fingers.
Take a breath.
You're all right.
I'm gonna mess this up.
[nearby equipment whirrs]
I screwed up the last simulation.
Take it easy.
You're okay.
[sniffles]
I'm pretty sure I'm gonna die.
You're just scared of being scared.
When that plasma starts flying,
you won't have time to be scared for yourself.
Because you'll be scared for me, and I'll be scared for you.
I'll be watching your ass every minute.
So you better be watching mine.
Copy?
Yeah.
[dramatic music playing]
[weapons clacking]
[indistinct P.A. announcement]
[Kai] John.
[marching footsteps]
Look, this isn't all on me.
You lied to us.
You put us in harm's way. You got us grounded.
I tried to help you, but you wouldn't listen.
What was I supposed to do? I had to make a call.
You made the wrong call.
You trusted people who wanted us dead.
I made a mistake.
Maybe you don't know what that feels like,
but that's what humans do.
They make mistakes.
But we shouldn't be here.
Where are we going?
-John? -I need my suit.
-You don't know where it is? -No.
But she does.
[footsteps]
[Halsey] Even then, I understood what it meant.
The DNA I found in that vault was both human and not.
-A mutation? -[Halsey] A possibility.
An invitation to unlock
the full potential of our species.
So, I started looking.
I assembled a team.
We scoured the galaxy for those people who exhibited traces
of the genetic sequence that I found here.
You took children.
I needed Spartans.
We all did.
Who else knows about this?
[Halsey] Show me what you found.
[soft exhalation]
[rummaging sound]
[Miranda] Whatever it is, it must be valuable.
[sighs]
[dramatic music playing]
Computer, give me the same simulation parameters.
Expand scale.
Planetary.
Initiate.
[low, powerful whirr]
Expand scale.
Star system.
Initiate.
[low, powerful whirr]
[sharp gasp]
Thank you, Cortana.
Wait. John. No.
John...
[grunts]
[groaning]
[John] Give me one reason
why I shouldn't kill this guy right now.
Honestly nothing comes to mind.
[grunting] John.
Where is my armor?
[strained speech] I know where it is!
I can get it for you.
Tell me.
It's behind a biometric lock!
We need his face.
Hmm? Attached?
[groaning]
[grunts]
[Ackerson] Parangosky lied about the Spike.
It doesn't do what we told them.
[John] Let's go.
It's not an override.
The virus compresses the ship's fusion drive,
creating a reaction powerful enough
to incinerate everything within a million miles.
-Wait, what? -Their fleet. Our fleet.
Perhaps even the Halo itself.
Parangosky's throwing Spartan-IIIs
at the Covenant fleet in swarms
because she doesn't need all of them to make it.
She just needs one.
One team. One Spike.
One ship.
The Spartans are Parangosky's insurance policy.
Her fail-safe.
If we lose this battle against the Covenant,
we won't get the Halo.
But with Parangosky's Spike, neither will they.
Since when do you care about Spartans?
These Spartans are my life's work.
I've heard that before.
[dramatic music plays]
[Miranda] What happened?
To my father?
They say he stayed behind.
On Reach.
You know your father.
He would never leave.
Survivors are scattered all over the galaxy.
Can't be sure he's not one of them.
I saw it.
Miranda, I-- I saw him.
At the end.
[sighs]
Oh.
[Halsey] W-Wait, Miranda.
[faint ringing sound]
[clink]
[delicate music plays]
[soft gasp]
[faint ringing sound]
[delicate music playing]
[soft chuckle]
[whispers] Now that's something.
Not just math. Not just language.
These are stars.
[delicate music plays]
[faint ringing sound]
[doors open loudly]
[computerized voice] Sector 4.
[dramatic music playing]
[door closes loudly]
[dramatic music plays]
I couldn't save him.
Vannak looked at me and he didn't understand...
how he got there.
He wasn't scared.
He just didn't understand.
[Ackerson] What are we going to do?
Well, I came here to punch a hole in your chest.
Watch the life drain out of you, like my friend.
I didn't give the orders on Reach.
[Kai] But you followed them.
And I followed you.
You are going to tell everybody
what Parangosky did on Reach.
And then you're gonna tell the truth
about what you did too.
It'll be my word against hers. I don't have proof.
I'm the proof.
The moment I walk out of here in that suit,
everything that Parangosky did, everything she said,
it all becomes a lie.
I'll be destroyed too.
It all costs something.
Even when you can't see it.
That's what you people never understand.
Somebody always pays.
This time, it's you.
[shaky breathing]
[sighs]
[faint ringing sound]
[Halsey] That constellation is Veles's Net.
Yeah.
And that's Loviatar's Wing.
And the Grand Cross is the final piece.
Nothing's happening.
We must have missed something.
The cipher's a test.
Do we share their understanding of mathematics?
Biology?
Do we communicate the way they did?
Do we explore the way they explored?
Are we curious?
It's not a map.
It's a clock.
What?
[Kwan] It projects the stars as they are, as we see them, but...
this isn't their sky.
[Halsey] What are you doing?
Stars...
they move over time.
Millions of years.
How do you know where they go?
I've seen it before.
[Miranda] Seen what?
[Kwan] Their stars.
It was like a dream.
[mystical music playing]
-Wait. -[Halsey] You must be joking!
[loud thud]
[gasps softly]
Wait, what if...
[quiet music playing]
Are you coming or not?
[Kai] You know what we have to do.
-It's not that simple. -You heard what Ackerson said.
Parangosky's throwing the Spartan-IIIs into the fire.
-We gotta go with them. -I can't come with you.
Why not?
Because Parangosky's right, Kai.
What are you talking about?
I'm not saying it doesn't matter.
I'm not saying it doesn't hurt.
But if we lose the Halo...
You heard what he said.
We're talking about an entire fleet.
I'm talking about the end of everything.
The Halo has more than one purpose,
but in the wrong hands, it is a weapon.
I'm going with them.
They're mine.
I can't let them go alone.
I need to be there.
I know.
If it comes down to it...
and it's you
with that Spike in your hand...
Just get to the Halo.
No matter what.
[door slides open]
[door slides closed]
[dramatic music playing]
[Kwan] Those symbols.
What does it say?
I haven't seen that one before.
The central segment looks like the ideograph
for "growth" or "rebirth," but the symbol at the top
usually has negative connotations.
Given the positioning,
maybe it modifies the other symbol.
It could mean anything. Change. Division. Decay.
-[lock tumbles] -[laughs]
[loud clanking]
[ringing sound]
[faint ringing sound]
[Halsey sighs]
[Kwan] It's a tomb.
It's not a tomb.
It's a laboratory.
And that...
It's a scientist.
[Miranda] It's almost human.
Don't touch it.
There's something in its hand.
[Kwan] Wait.
[crackling]
[panting]
[glass crackling]
-[rumbling] -[Kwan] We need to move.
Halsey, let's go.
[gasps]
-Get out! -[Halsey] No, Miranda...
[ominous music rises]
Move!
[ominous music playing]
-[Halsey] Look. -Halsey!
Look at this...
-Halsey! -Can you see?
[Miranda] We have to go! Halsey!
Come on! Come on! Let's go!
Mom!
Please.
[suspenseful music playing]
[grunts]
We have to get back there. That was a city.
A city.
Imagine the technology,
the ingenuity required to build that--
-What's happening? -[Halsey] It's beautiful.
It's spreading.
It's their history.
The story of their empire expanding.
All these worlds they knew.
Growth.
-What's wrong? -It's real.
-What is? -We can't be here.
-[Miranda] Kwan-- -[Halsey] No. Let her go.
Miranda, tell me.
Tell me you got it.
[chuckles]
[distant rumble]
[snarling softly]
It is done. The priest's infidels are dead.
You stood for me.
You would have died for me.
I would have died for the truth you carry.
[thudding, loud crash]
The Fleet has found us.
Will we be destroyed?
What have you foreseen?
I see nothing now.
I am fallen.
I do not know how to make myself worthy of your faith.
You already have.
You have shown me my redemption.
[dramatic music playing]
[breathing heavily]
[sizzling]
[screams]
[gasps and pants]
I am bound to you.
We are bound to the Ring.
[rhythmic thudding]
[Laera] Kessler!
Kessler!
[footsteps thudding rapidly]
[grunts]
[yells]
[grunts and screams]
Hey.
[metal bar clanking]
[sighs] Kessler.
It's me.
Hey.
[Laera] Soren!
Mom!
[Laera screaming]
[grunting]
[Soren] Kessler!
[indistinct chatter over P.A.]
[John] Nice suit.
How are you alive?
I could ask the same thing about you.
You're coming with us.
I have a different mission.
You know what it would mean to them to see you're alive.
To know you're fighting beside them.
You know what it would mean to me.
When the battle ends,
they don't talk about the ones who don't come home.
They just call it a victory
and say it was because of me.
Because of something I did, or something I had, or--
Or something you are.
Something you can't see.
But you feel it.
I know you feel it.
Moving through you.
That woman made you flip that coin
all those times when you were a kid.
Was it luck?
Did you guess?
I told you, I...
I just knew.
Did you know?
Or did you make it come up heads?
Perez.
I'll be all right.
One way or the other.
[Miranda] What do you suppose it does?
Well, she was a scientist and she died clutching it, so...
It's her work.
I spent the last five months down in that site.
Staying late, working alone,
just me and your notes.
In a way, it felt like I was talking to who you used to be.
I want to meet the people who built that city
just as much as you do.
And don't worry.
If you never get there, I will.
I believe you.
[P.A.] Security team to Section 70.
Possible unauthorized personnel.
[dramatic music playing]
[gasps]
Halsey?
[Miranda] Mom?
[breathing heavily]
[Miranda laughs]
[sighs] Now that's something.
[indistinct P.A. announcement]
[dramatic music playing]
[man] Let's go, Master Chief.
[dramatic music rises, then falls]
You know, I've been doing this a long time.
I beg your pardon?
Oh?
Are we going to pretend
you didn't do an analysis of the Spike code?
And unauthorized simulations?
You know, I've always found it helps
to know what my people are thinking.
Especially when I'm not there.
What about the Spartan-IIIs?
-What about them? -They trusted me.
I told them they could win.
You can't do this to them.
You mean I can't do this to you.
No.
To them.
[Jones] Flight Deck, this is Launch Control.
We're detecting a heat plume on Condor UBX-19.
Condor UBX-19, this is Control.
You do not have an approved flight plan.
You're not cleared for launch.
[radio static crackles]
UBX-19, identify yourself.
[John, over comms] This is Master Chief John-117.
You were saying?
-Restrain this man. -[man] Yes, Admiral.
See, when the story of what happened on Reach gets told,
when the story of what happened here gets told,
I think they'll listen to him, don't you?
[dramatic music playing]
[suspenseful music playing]
[indistinct radio chatter]
[Kai] Get it out of your head.
He's not coming.
[alarm sounds]
[indistinct radio chatter]
[dramatic music playing]
[thunderous clap]
[cosmic whoosh]
[dramatic music plays]
[rumbling]
[indistinct radio chatter continuing]
[Flightdeck] We are approaching the slot.
Hostiles in range. 60 seconds to jump point.
Good luck, Spartans.
[Kai] First squad, on the beam!
[footfalls]
[dramatic music playing]
[ethereal music playing]
[music crescendos]
[quiet dramatic music playing]
[signature theme plays]