"What's a Covenant dropship doing here?" "Backwater like Sedra?" "He's heading for the city." "We think it's a bomb." "She's been affected by something." "Secure the entrances." "Only Sedran passports get entrance." "I've got wounded, Colonel." "We can talk politics later." "What the hell did they do to us?" "Covenant's found their holy grail then, haven't they?" "Way of wiping us out without firing a shot." "He says it's sourced from a place no one will go." "He says it's sourced from hell." "Looks like we got a one-off." "An element fatal to humans." "Native to this little piece of Halo ring and nowhere else." "Treaty says no one goes back to the ring." "Not UNSC, not Covenant." "Daytime temperatures reach 900 degrees." "They're working the night shift." "Harvesting the element and they're long gone before the sun comes up." "We destroy the deposits with the Havok, grab our smugglers, be off-planet within hours." "Look, you wanna do this tonight, your only option is the Sedrans." "I hear you need a ship." "All these years heard about the Halo ring." "Never thought we'd actually step foot on it." "Won't be the Halo ring of yore, that's for sure." "Ready to go to hell, Colonel?" " Daddy?" " I heard you're gonna come home." "I made a picture of us at the beach." " Bye, Daddy!" " I miss you." "Ever seen a Havok nuke before?" "Only virtually." "How 'bout battle?" "Seen that?" "Thing you don't understand about Sedrans." "We've lived in a state of perpetual war, surrounded by enemies." "We were born fighting." "That may be." "But make a mistake with that you won't even have time to know you made a mistake." "No one in 100 kilometers will." "Which is why only we touch it." "This is our mission." "I don't wanna hear that again, Lieutenant." "This is a Sedran operation." "Oh, we'll be the ones setting the nuke." "And probably nabbing the smugglers as advisors." "You wanna put a muzzle on your subordinate, Commander Locke?" "He's officially muzzled." "He said what he had to say." "Well, once we're boots down, we'll have roughly eight hours before sunup." "Anybody who's on the surface at that point is dead." "Atmosphere's still breathable but at only 20% oxygen of what the ring used to have." "This is gonna slow us down." "Which means oxygen systems and scrubbers for everyone." "And lastly" "I don't wanna hear anymore proper nous until we exfil." "No more "Sedrans", no "ONI"." "Just a team of soldiers." "And as commanding officer of this mission that team goes through me, clear?" "Clear from this end." "We come up against it so you know" "only guy I listen to is you." "Your friend's wrong about us." "We can fight." "Not tonight, you won't." "Colonel's right about you, if you don't mind me saying." "ONI." "Think you're better than everyone else." "I mean... not that you're not, it's just..." "Well, the only difference between you and any of us is the training." "So you think if you went through ONI training, you'd be just as good?" "Maybe even better." "That your aspiration?" "To be ONI?" "Perhaps you'd rather be a Spartan." "She should be neither." "You know, he used to be a Spartan." "A decade ago maybe." "Named Randall-037." "One day, he up and walks away." "And no one walks away from the Spartan program." "It's not supposed to be possible." "They have too much invested in you." "Fast forward 10 years and suddenly I'm looking at your colonel." "Scars like they took a bunch of titanium out of his body." "Except his name is not Randall, it's Aiken." "How's that come to pass?" "You're ONI." "You tell me." "Come on, Macer." "I know better than to trust you." "We wouldn't be doing our job if people trusted us." "Commander." "Colonel, we've located the position of the mining tug." "Condor will drop us two klicks short of the target, we'll proceed on foot." "Make sure we preserve surprise." "As for the Havok," "Unless you disagree, Commander," "I suggest it stays here till we have our quarry." "We can light it up at that point, make sure we're well out of space by the time it detonates." "But not so far that we can't see it." "Something awful mesmerizing about seeing a Havok go up in real time." "A fireworks show like none other." "Amen to that." "On our signal, come to us." "Last chance, Colonel." "We can do this on our own." "We do this as a team." "Have it your way, try to keep up." "Now drop the lines!" "Ropes away." "Drop in five." "Something about this place freaks me out." "Whole thing's fried." "Used to be rivers, forests." "Everything living in those forests..." "If it was living, it's dead now." "The Forerunners built it 100,000 years ago, and we still don't totally understand it." "Even busted up like it is." "Not getting any movement." "Best, Wisner, stay 360 on this." "I don't want anybody flanking us." "Yes, sir." "Got any thoughts on this one, Colonel?" "Almost say they ditched, but engine's still warm." "Still functional." "I wonder why they deployed the chute." "It's pretty cramped for a two-seater." "Question is where our two are." "Got something, Locke." "Cargo unit." "Looks like it got pretty busted up on entry." "Jettisoned before landed." "Guess they weren't planning on bringing it back." "Horse tracks." "Who the hell brings horses?" "Couldn't land the tug near the deposits." "Might have been the fastest way out." "Fastest way 1000 years ago." "Got a cave, Macer." "Can you image through this soil?" "No, sir." "Too thick." "Roger that." "Stay high and wide of us." "I don't want your engine noise, but I want your eyes." "Roger that, sir." "Get ready." "Humidity level is rising." "Got 'em." "Twelve o'clock." "M53 non-lethal rounds." "I want them incapacitated, not dead." "We've got your ship." "There's no way out." "Stand up!" "Put down your weapons!" "These guys are something else." "Put down your weapons, I'm telling you!" "What's wrong with those horses?" "They can smell something." "They're moving." "Son of a bitch." "Horrigan, Estrin." "Colonel, I got 'em." "Running east of you." "Let's make this easy, huh?" "You have no idea what you're doing." "Shut up and save the bull for the ride out." "Not bad for advisors, huh, Colonel?" "Nice." " Bring it, Macer, we have our quarry." "Roger that." "Privates, get the containers." "Yes, sir!" "Whoa there, boy!" "Whoa!" "Pull up, sir!" "Pull up!" "Hell's going on, Macer?" "I don't know, but pull up!" "Talk to me, Condor." "What the hell's going on?" "Something's on me, sir." "I'm losing control of her." "The propulsion's gone." "Blown up the engines." "Macer." "Get down!" "It's gonna hit us!" "Fall back!" "Take cover!" "Stand down." "Hold your fire." "We're cloaking." "What the hell are they?" "The only thing that matters right now is we're cloaked and they can't see us." "I'm not so sure about that." "Fall back!" "Fall back!" "Fall back!" "We were cloaked." "How did they know?" "It's your technology!" "It's like a magnet to them." "They sense it." "Once they on you, they can even sense your movements." "Power down." "What?" "Do it." "Can someone tell me what those things are?" "They're Hunter Worms." "Some of us aren't going to survive the night." "Two hours down, two hours to the tug." "How do we decide who takes it?" "Lifeboat rules." "I give you my word." "You help us find that craft, you'll get a fair draw at those straws." "That's a dangerous game you're playing." "Someone's gotta help him." "Stay on mission, Macer."