"Every day birthed anew." "Born a promise." "A million possibilities taking shape under each new day's sun." "But what if the next time that sun rose there were no possibilities at all?" "Only death." "Yours and of everything you've ever known." "How would you act in that darkness beforehand?" "How would you go out?" "We are simple things, soldiers." "We are taught honor." "Honor means sacrifice." "Sacrifice means death." "Either our own, or our enemy's." "In some ways, beneath it all, that's all a soldier's really trained for." "To undo all of God's work." "To take life where only God can give it." "Were it that we were not soldiers but gods." "I'll tell you, Locke." "Worst thing about being at peace with the Covenant we're reduced to this." "Trailing small fish." "Never know." "Chatter we've been getting off this guy is he's up to something." "Something that would not bode well for the UNSC." "Any bets on what he's carrying?" "Drugs." "Exotic fauna?" "You actually just said that, didn't you?" "Gotta say something to keep it interesting." "That interesting enough for you?" "Vector in." "What's a Covenant dropship doing here?" "Backwater like Sedra?" "What the hell?" "An Elite Zealot?" "Been years since I've seen a roach." "Whatever he's got, that's just black-hole cold." "Stasis refrigerant?" "That's only used for one thing." "A bomb." "Not good." "We're moving people." "Split up." "Ramos, the little one." "Copy." "I got him." "Gaines, it's Locke." "Target just handed off to a Zealot." "An Elite?" "We think it's a bomb." "Where is he?" "Where'd he go?" "He's heading for the city." "Vectoring to you now." "He's broken into a city access tunnel." "Might lose comm inside." "Roger that." "Horrigan, mark my last." "He ran from the fight." "His target must be the city." "We've got the east side, Locke." "What's there?" "Talk to me." "Main market." "Maybe 500 Sedrans." "Damn it, we gotta take him out." "He's been seen entering the mall." "It's over." "Give it to me." "That can't have been it." "What kind of device was that?" "No damage?" "It could have been a dud." "An Elite Zealot wouldn't come all this way to make a mistake like that." "Why did they come all the way out here at all?" "We gotta tell Admiral Goodwin." "He's at the UN meeting." "I wouldn't rattle any cages till we know what we're dealing with." "What's going on with her?" "I don't know." "She's been affected by something..." "Gaines..." "Keep breathing." " Secure the entrances." " Yes sir, Colonel." "Keep breathing." "You're gonna be alright, you hear me?" "Hold it." "ONI, we're clear." "Only Sedran passports get entrance." "I've got wounded, Colonel." "We can talk politics later." "Go ahead." "Get 'em to decon unit with the rest of his team." "I don't want 'em spreading this thing if contagious." "Yes sir, Colonel." "Like that someone can play God to you." "Someone you don't know." "Invisible, like a malevolent force beyond the firmament." "Taking from you our only birthright." "Life." "So what do we do?" "Just wait?" "Find out if it gets us?" "Medical says they've never seen anything like it." "But if we're not showing symptoms at this point, we might be in the clear." "What the hell did they do to us?" "Ramos." "Talk to me, medic." "What do you got?" "They're coming in from further and further from the blast site." "People eight, ten kilometers away are being affected." "Population of this ward is 100% human." "It's not affecting other species." "You're saying they got their hands on a compound that selectively kills humans and nothing else?" "It's not a compound." "An element." "Closest they can pin it is the 120 family." "But with a transmutation of some sort that makes it something no one's ever seen." "This thing randomly compromises human DNA, but not others." "Covenant's found their holy grail then, haven't they?" "Way of wiping us out without firing a shot." "When we're supposedly not even at war." "Question is, why Sedra?" "Why use this on an outer colony?" "Why not hit population centers like Gannick 22?" "Test run, probably." "Porous borders." "Mixed population." "This one works, they go for the big fish." "Sedrans think this is the mining tug that was used to smuggle in the element." "The pirates can't be found." "Check that out, Estrian." "Yes sir." "Hey Locke." "Here comes our Sedran Colonel." "What do you got?" "Let you know when the time's right." "I suggest we work together on this." "We both want the same thing." "ONI doesn't work alongside anyone." "It's just you and everyone else way below." "So you know I don't write policy." "My two soldiers are up in ICU because of that blast." "Soldiers I'm responsible for." "I'm asking you as a fellow officer." "Show them back to the base, Macer." "Sir." "You're gonna tell me who flew that tug." "You keep playing stupid, you'll be dead inside an hour." "Colonel Aiken." "Mind if we step in, take a shot?" "All I mind is you shutting up and knowing your place." "This is on you." "You know that, don't you?" "They weren't after us, they were after you." "UNSC." "'Cause you were operating here, on our turf." "You take the good with the bad and the UNSC have done a lot of good for you." "You're here to expand UNSC's power, nothing else." "Without a clue about the cultures you assimilate." "He says he's only a middleman." "Told to carry some things to a landing site and not to ask any questions." "But he did anyhow." "He couldn't find out what he was carrying, but found out where it came from." "He says it's sourced from a place no one will go." "He says it's sourced from hell." "A place so doomed even the Elites Zealots won't go there." "So they but it from someone who will." "If we work backward through the tug's positioning, you're never gonna believe where we end up." "Intense red giant." "Half a dozen charred planets around it, but that's not the interesting part." "It's the Halo ring." "That's Alpha Halo." "Exactly." "The one the Master Chief destroyed." "And now it's come back to haunt us." "The explosion and the triggered slipspace scatters the ring to break across the galaxy." "This one apparently ends up in our red giant's orbit." "Be a major peace violation if anyone went there." "Treaty says no one goes back to the Ring." "Not UNSC, not Covenant." "You think this is where they're sourcing the element?" "Problem is, there's no record of an element like that on a Halo ring." "Before the explosion." "After it could be a different story." "You got a point, private." "Get to it." "Macer." "Private first class, sir." "And the point's easy." "For all we know what blew up the Halo ring was a supernova-level event." "Right push and pull of fission and fusion and new elements are formed." "Like our mystery element," "Let me guess." "You majored in Physics." "R- regional Nav." "Physics I just leafed through when I was bored." "Display object's composition." "Element range: 120 to 130." "Cross-reference other planets, celestial bodies with this element." "Expand search." "Galaxies, known universe." "Looks like we got a one-off." "An element fatal to humans." "Native to this little piece of Halo ring and nowhere else." "96 square kilometers." "We can nuke it." "Launch it from a destroyer." "Hold up on that." "What do you got, Estrin?" "Another inbound." "Tug, just like this one." "Looks like someone's going back to no man's land." "We don't have a lot of time, Admiral." "Be a bold move, Locke." "Send a team in, destroy the deposits, nab whoever it is that's mining the stuff." "And find out who they're selling it to." "We know who they're selling it to." "Just need proof." "Hard proof the Covenant's broken the treaty." "Then give me the okay." "We're the only ones in the region who can do anything about it." "Sir, if I may." "Well, it's just, I think there's more you should know." "Because of its orbit, this piece of the ring." "has got rotation just like any other planet." "But the spin's fast." "Full day-night cycle's only 16 hours." "And?" "Well, because of proximity to that star daytime temperatures reach 900 degrees." "They're working the night shift." "Harvesting the element and they're long gone before the sun comes up." "Cools to about 130 degrees or so at night because of the mass." "Gotta admit to them they do have balls." "We still have enough time to get there before they're done." "We destroy the deposits with the Havok, grab our smugglers, be off-planet within hours." "Havok's a big ask." "These are big circumstances, sir." "Look, you wanna do this tonight, your only option is the Sedrans." "Where's Aiken?" "Well, he's not to be accessed, sir." "He's not to be accessed, sir!" "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." "They're hooking us up with a Condor." "Good enough." "Looks like there's strings attached." "Sir?" "Oxygen packs." "We weren't planning on co-opting this thing." "You underestimate Sedrans, Commander." "We get punched in the mouth, we don't just outsource our fight to other people." "We work better alone." "You're lucky ONI is even coming in an advisory capacity." "We're the ones going to be doing all the heavy lifting." "We'll see about that." "Lift-off's in 10." "We can't do this." "These people are two centuries behind us." "They still believe in Valhalla." "I don't think we have a choice, Horrigan." "Ready to go to hell, Colonel?" "Ever seen a Havok nuke before?" "Your friend's wrong about us." "We can fight." "This is a Sedran operation." "Well, we'll be the ones setting the nuke." "Last chance, Colonel." "We can do this on our own." "We do this as a team." "Something about this place freaks me out." "Whole thing's fried." "Used to be rivers, forests." "If it was living, it's dead now." "Not getting any movement." "Got a cave, Macer." "Put down your weapons, I'm telling you!" "Take cover!" "What the hell are they?" "They can even sense your movements." "We gotta get out of this hole."