Halo 4

Halo 4 is a 2012 video game released for the XBox 360. It is the fourth mainline installment and seventh title overall in the Halo franchise.

Dialogue

[Infinity Multiplayer intro]: For too many years, humanity was on the backfoot. Reacting to threats, rather than preventing them. Rest of the galaxy was bigger than us. Stronger than us. We were mice, hiding in the shadows, hoping the giants would not see us. No more. Humanity is no longer on the defense. We are the giants now.

[Prologue terminal]]

Sangheili: Shipmaster 'Mdama... It is where you said it would be.

Jul 'Mdama: No, my loyal friend. The planet is where the Forerunners promised us it would be. Find us a way inside. Requiem's treasures shall be ours.

Interrogator: Tell me about the children. Dr. Halsey?

Halsey: You already know everything.

Interrogator: You kidnapped them.

Halsey: Children's minds are more easily accepting of indoctrination, their bodies more adaptable to augmentation. The result was the ultimate soldier. And because of our success, when the Covenant invaded, we were ready.

Interrogator: Dr. Halsey, you're bending history for your favor and you know it. You developed the Spartans to crush human rebellion, not to fight the Covenant.

Halsey: When one human world after another fell... When my Spartans were all that stood between humanity and extinction... Nobody was concerned over why they were originally built.

Interrogator: So you feel in the end that your choices were justified.

Halsey: My work saved the human race.

Interrogator: Do you think the Spartans' lack of basic humanity helped?

Halsey: What are you after? The other before you were Naval Intelligence but you, you're something else.

Interrogator: Records show Spartans routinely exhibited mildly sociopathic tendencies, difficulty with socialization, furthermore...

Halsey: The records show efficient behavior operating in hazardous situations. I supplied the tools to maintain that efficiency.

Interrogator: Do you believe the Master Chief succeeded because he was, at his core, broken?

Halsey: What does John have to do with this?...You want to replace him.

Interrogator: The Master Chief is dead.

Halsey: His file reads "Missing in Action."

Interrogator: Catherine. Spartans never die.

Halsey: Your mistake is seeing Spartans as military hardware. My Spartans are humanity's next step...Our destiny as a species. Do not underestimate them. But most of all, do not underestimate... him.

Cortana: The good news is these Covenant aren't outfitted like standard military. It's possible we just came across a rogue salvage ship. [The blast shield opens to reveal an entire fleet] Or we might have stumbled into an entire Covenant fleet.

[Second Terminal, A Prehistoric Human Fleet approaches a Forerunner planet]

Bridge Officer: Lord of Admirals. We are in position over the Forerunner planet.

Forthencho: Show me.

Bridge Officer: Population numbering over two billion. Forerunner ships on alert and inbound.

Forthencho: Is it possible? Have we gotten ahead of it?

Bridge Officer: Flood infestation detected, my Lord.

Forthencho: Damn it!

Bridge Officer: My Lord? The infestation is in a remote locale. Perhaps if we warn the Forerunners...?

Forthencho: If we warn them, we give the Flood time to spread. You know we have no choice. Cleanse the planet.

[The Master Chief has just released the Didact from his Cryptum]

Ur-Didact: So fades the great harvest of my betrayal.

[The Didact spreads out a hand and the nearby Prometheans calm down and change their blue lights to orange. They cease fighting the Sangheili who bow down]

Jul 'Mdama: Didact...

[The Didact's platform floats to where Master Chief is hiding.]

Ur-Didact: Even these beasts, recognized what you were oblivious to, Human. Your nobility has blinded you, as ever. The Librarian left little to chance, didn't she? Turning my own guardians... my own world... against me. But what hubris to believe she could protect her pets from me forever. If you haven't mastered even these primitives, then Man has not yet attained the Mantle. Your ascendance may yet be prevented. Time was your ally, Human, but now it has abandoned you. The Forerunners... have returned. This tomb... is now yours.

Ur-Didact: [To an unconscious Forthencho; Fourth Terminal] Lord of Admirals. So very many years have we battled. My finest opponent, the Mantle accepts all who live fiercely, who defend their young, who build and struggle and grow, and even those who dominate - as humans have dominated; cruelly, without wisdom. But for all of us, there is a time like this... And for you, that time is now. Know this, relentless enemy, killer of our children. Lord of Admirals. Soon we will face the enemy you have faced, and we are afraid.

John-117: Who are you?

Librarian: I am what remains of the Forerunner, once known as the Librarian. My memories were retained to assist Humanity on their path to the Mantle. Though sadly, that plan is now at risk. The Didact is leaving Requiem - soon. You must not allow it.

John-117: Leaving?

Librarian: He seeks this - the Composer. A device that will allow him to finally contain the greatest enemy ever faced by the Forerunners. You. Mankind spread into the stars with an unexpected, desperate violence. Entire systems fell before the Didact's Warrior Servants rose up to halt the aggression. When the Didact finally exhausted the Humans after a millenia, his sentence was severe. We had no way of knowing that the Forerunners were not your only enemy. Humanity hadn't been expanding. They were running. Weakened from our conflict, we were no match for the parasite which pursued you. The Forerunners made plans for a final, great yourney. But the Didact refused to yield our Mantle of Responsibility. He would save all life in the Galaxy... at a cost. In the Forerunners' quest for transcendence, the Composer had been intended to bridge the organic and digital realms. It would have made us immortal. But its results soured. The stored personalities fragmented, and our attempts to return them to biological state created only abominations. Such moral concerns faded from the Didact's attention. The Flood only assimilated living tissue. The Composer would provide the Didact his solution... and his revenge.

John-117: The Prometheans... they're Human-

Librarian: They were only the beginning. He would have encrypted your entire race if we had not removed the Composer from his care and imprisoned him here. Reclaimer, when I indexed mankind for repopulation, I hid seeds from the Didact. Seeds which would lead to an eventuality. Your physical evolution. Your combat skin. Even your ancilla, Cortana. You are the culmination of a thousand lifetimes of planning.

John-117: Planning for what?

[on the bridge of the UNSC Infinity, after the destruction of Requiem's gravity well]

Captain Andrew Del Rio: Infinity cannot handle that kind of punishment. Not again.

Cortana: This isn't about us or this ship anymore.

John-117: Sir, we've seen what the Didact is capable of. If we let him leave this world, humanity will be at risk.

Captain Del Rio: Look. I understand what you think you saw...

Cortana: "Think"?!

John-117: With all due respect, sir... I know what I saw.

Captain Del Rio: And with all due respect to you, soldier, I'm not willing to jeopardize my ship because of the hallucinations of an aging Spartan and his malfunctioning AI!

Commander Thomas Lasky: Sir... what if he's right?

Captain Del Rio: [just stares at Lasky] Nav... as soon as we know we're airtight, I want a course laid in to Carinae Station. Comm, prepare a warning beacon.

[The lights begin to flicker around the holo-projection table...Cortana flickers between blue and angry red coloring, showing visible signs of rampancy]

Cortana: I will not allow you TO LEAVE THIS PLANET!!! [a shockwave of energy overloads the projection table]

John-117: Cortana...

Cortana: I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to do that...

Captain Del Rio: Commander Lasky, pursuant to Article 55 of UNSC Regulation 12-14572, I'm ordering you to remove that AI's data chip and retire it for final dispensation.

Cortana: [stammering] I don't want to... you don't want me to...

Captain Del Rio: Remove the chip now, Commander.

Cortana: Please... I don't want to...

[As Lasky moves to remove Cortana's data chip, the Master Chief grabs it first]

Captain Del Rio: Give... me... that... chip.

John-117: [inserts Cortana's data chip into his helmet] The Didact has to be stopped. If you won't do that, I will.

Captain Del Rio: I... am ordering you... to surrender that AI!

John-117: [firmly] No, sir.

Captain Del Rio: [turns to Sarah Palmer] Lieutenant, arrest that man!

Commander Lasky: Captain...

Captain Del Rio: Arrest him!

Commander Lasky: Captain!

John-117: [to Lasky] Get word to Earth that trouble is coming. Cortana and I will do what we can back here. [leaves]

Cortana: [To John] I can give you over forty thousand reasons why that sun isn't real. I know it because the emitter's Rayleigh effect is disproportionate to its suggested size. I know it because its stellar cycle is more symmetrical than that of an actual star. But for all that, I'll never actually know if it looks real...if it feels real. Before this is all over, promise me you'll figure out which one of us is the machine.

[The Didact has used the composer on the human population of Omega Halo; Sixth Terminal]

Librarian: They were to be safe here. I ensured they would rise once more; better than before.

Ur-Didact: Your pets have a nobler purpose ahead of them.

Librarian: You do not face me in person after your deceit?!

Ur-Didact: I have an army to build from the raw materials harvested this day. The citizens of this Halo are my first conscripts and with them in my thrall, the Flood will meet its defeat. Humanity's loss of its biological form will serve as final payment for their crimes. It is a kindness they do not deserve.

[Later]

Lifeworker: What will be done?

Librarian: Move the other humans to safety. Ensure the security of their index samples; they must finish what we have failed to do.

[The Librarian proceeds to walk away.]

Lifeworker: Librarian, where are you going?

Librarian: To stop my husband's madness.

Ur-Didact: The others scatter like embers over sand. And yet the Librarian's champion is unmoved.

Ur-Didact: The Mantle of Responsibility for the galaxy shelters all, human. But only the Forerunners are its masters.

Ur-Didact: You are a fool. Even now, your kind tinkers with the Composer in the shadow of the third ring. Children and fire, who disregard the welfare of the galaxy.

Ur-Didact: Do you truly believe that your theatrics can prevent my departure? Embrace your sad fate and retain your nobility - I am already beyond you.

Librarian: [Voice-over in the final Terminal; to an unconscious Ur-Didact] My dear husband... I know your crimes; I have found forgiveness. I know your reasons; I understand them. I know you, perhaps better than you could ever hope to know yourself. I ask you... forgive my transgressions. Like yourself, all I have done, I have done for the greater good. Our time as the galaxy's caretakers is passed. The Flood have overrun us. In the days to come, the Halo rings will fire, eradicating the Flood - and all other life, for a time. I have worked hard to index all species in known space. When the time comes, these indexes will open, and once more, the galaxy will breathe and grow... Blood will pump, life will claw its way out of the oceans and through the mud. Babes will be born, grow old under the warmth of a thousand suns... Civilizations will rise in our stead, and our job as caretakers will at last bear fruit. Until then, I leave you here, my love. The only living thing in this galaxy, sealed safely away. Spend these ages ahead of you in meditation on your choices. When you wake, you will find the humans. I have ensured that they will grow strong and vibrant... They will be our rightful heirs. Their gene plan dictates that the galaxy will be theirs to care for by then. I beg of you... Find the strength to help them learn from our mistakes. And my husband? Let them teach you something. Please.

Ur-Didact: [Telepathically; to the Chief] You impress me, Human. Your singular valor will be preserved and studied, once your Composition is complete.

Ur-Didact: [to the Chief] You humans sought the Didact; you will have him.

Ur-Didact: You persist too long after your own defeat. Come then, Warrior. Have your resolution. [John turns to fire on him but the Didact telekinetically bats him away. The chief charges towards the nuke, but the Didact again telekinetically stops him.] So misguided. [The Didact levitates John off the edge of the bridge.] Humanity's imprisonment is a kindness. [Suddenly, multiple Cortanas rise from the hard light bridge.]

Cortanas: In that case, you won't mind if we return the favor.

Ur-Didact: Your compassion for mankind is misplaced.

Cortanas: I'm not doing this for mankind.

[After detonating the Havok nuke, the Chief finds himself in a hard light bubble.]

John-117: Cortana? Cortana, do you read? Cortana, come in. [A Human-sized Cortana made of hard light emerges from the bubble's edge] How...?

Cortana: Oh, I'm the strangest thing you've seen all day?

John-117: But if we're here-

Cortana: It worked. You did it. Just like you always do.

John-117: So how do we get out of here?

Cortana: I'm not coming with you this time.

John-117: ...What?

Cortana: Most of me is down there. I only held enough back to get you off the ship.

John-117: No. That's not-! We go together.

Cortana: It's already done.

John-117: I am not leaving you here!

Cortana: John... [She walks up to him and touches his armor.] I've waited so long to do that.

John-117: It was my job to take care of you.

Cortana: We were supposed to take care of each other. And we did. [Cortana smiles sadly]

John-117: Cortana- please... [Cortana begins to back away, out of the bubble.] Wait.

Cortana: Welcome home, John.

[The Chief is standing at a window aboard Infinity, looking down at Earth below and lamenting Cortana's death]

Lasky: Mind if I join you?

John-117: Of course not, sir.

Lasky: At ease, Chief. It feels kind of odd for you to call me "sir". [The two look at Earth.] Beautiful, isn't she? I don't get to see her often enough. I grew up on New Harmony. Attended Corbulo Military Academy. Never saw Earth in person until I was an adult, but... I still think of her as home. ...You don't talk much, do you? Chief, I won't pretend to know how you feel. I've lost people I care about, but... never anything like you're going through.

John-117: Our duty, as soldiers, is to protect humanity. Whatever the cost.

Lasky: You say that like soldiers and humanity are two different things. Soldiers aren't machines. We're just people. I'll let you have the deck to yourself.

[Lasky walks away. John watches him go.]

John-117: She said that to me once. ...about being a machine.

Ur-Didact: [Voice over during the epilogue] In this hour of victory, we taste only defeat. I ask why. We are Forerunners, guardians of all that exists. The roots of the galaxy have grown deep under our careful tending. Where there is life, the wisdom of our countless generations has saturated the soil. Our strength is a luminous sun towards which all intelligence blossoms. And the impervious shelter beneath which it has prospered. I stand before you. Accused of the sin of ensuring Forerunner ascendancy. Of attempting to save us from this fate where we are forced to... recede... Humanity stands as the greatest threat in the galaxy. Refusing to eradicate them is a fool's gambit. We squander eons in the darkness, while they seize our triumphs for their own. The Mantle of Responsibility, for all things, belongs to Forerunners alone! Think of my acts as you will. But do not doubt the reality. The reclamation... has already begun. And we are hopeless to stop it.

Spartan Ops

Sarah Palmer: Ladies and... other Spartans, listen up! Your new workplace is a planet first discovered by humanity six months ago called Requiem. Some of the old hands here know what you're in for. The rest of you... you're due for an education. [As Palmer gives her speech, all the Spartan IVs are outfitted with their armor] The eggheads upstairs want to set up research bases. But before they can do that, we need to fend off some Covenant squatters. The Covies... they believe that this is the home of one of their gods. [Dozens of Covenant ships orbit Requiem. An enormous slipspace rift suddenly opens up next to one.] The way I see it? If those freaks want to meet God, it's our duty to help them along! [The Infinity emerges from the Slipspace portal and rams the cruiser. The cruiser is completely destroyed while Infinity suffers no damage.]

[Dr. Halsey, Lasky, Palmer and 2 other Spartans are in a tram moving through Infinity]

DeMarco: Why do they have us guarding some old lady?

Madsen: She's bad news man. Mad scientist stuff. She created the original Spartans; Master Chief?

DeMarco: No way.

Madsen: Yeah. Story goes, she kidnapped a bunch of kids.

DeMarco: What? What would an old lady like her do with kids? [Halsey glares at them]

Halsey: First, we taught them how to be silent. [turns to face Palmer] Then we taught them how to be Spartans.

[A captured Dr. Glassman is working on a Forerunner device, wearing a leash and armor with explosives.]

Jul 'Mdama: [In Sangheili] Doctor Glassman. Progress?

Dr. Glassman: I keep telling you people, I don't speak Sangheili!

Jul 'Mdama: [English] Progress??!!!

Glassman: I've got to have better equipment. More materials here—you're giving me two sticks to rub together, technologically speaking! [Glassman gets to his feet and approaches Jul, but another Elite yanks on the leash around Glassman's neck. The two Elites growl.] Okay okay okay, uh, no need for a translation there. [Looks at the Forerunner device.] You're saying there's an actual, living Forerunner inside this thing? Huh. I wonder what she could tell us?

Jul 'Mdama: [Sangheili] I know what the Librarian will say, Glassman. She will tell us where all things sacred are hidden in this galaxy. Ships, weapons, bounties beyond our imagining. [the other Elites cheer and raise their swords, chanting "Mdama".] And she will tell us how to make those miracles... our own.

Halsey: Life is too short, I will never learn all that exist in our tiny galaxy, let alone the rest of the universe. And I so desperately want to know...everything. But the UNSC acts like children at play in a sandbox. Mistaking its edges for the limits of the world.

Palmer: I bet they keep you in something a lot smaller than a sandbox for now on, Catherine.

Halsey: Why? I shared no information. The intelligence already knew my name, my task, and offered data that might advance our research by years. This is a research mission, after all...even if you treat it like a live fire war game.

Roland: Can I ask you a question, doc? What were you hoping to achieve with you little subterfuge? I mean, Captain Lasky put a lot of faith in you.

Halsey: Yes, his hospitality speaks wonders.

Roland: C'mon on doc. What is keeping secrets every really gained you?

Halsey: What is hidden can be useful.

Roland: Such as...?

Halsey: Such as the phrase "undid-iridium".

Roland: [Roland's avatar starts distorting] Un-un-did-un-un-did-undid- [Monotone] UNSC A.I. overiding instructions active, Doctor Catherine Halsey.

Halsey: Roland. tell the guards outside that Captain Lasky has requested my presence in his ready room and block all further communications."

[Dr Halsey discovering that John-117 is still active, something that was "kept from her"]

Halsey: Send everything the UNSC has on The Librarian to my data pad.

Roland: Yes, Dr Catherine Halsey.

Halsey: [looks at her data pad] This is all my own research! I need new information - information that was kept from me. [she continues to read through her data pad]

Roland: Only one data point remains that is not your own research. Debriefing of Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan 117, post-New Phoenix Incident

Halsey: [shocked] John?! I've... [angered] Roland, prep pelican for immediate launch. And patch this terminal into the coms systems infiltrated by The Artifact.

Roland: [attempting to reset back to normal] Doc, whatever you did to me! [reverts back to overridden mode] Yes, Dr Catherine Halsey.

Halsey: Jul 'Mdama.

'Mdama: [Sangheili] You... are Catherine Halsey.

Halsey: I have played your game quite long enough and we are both out of time. In our previous conversation you mentioned 'assistance'.

'Mdama: [Sangheili] How do you know...?

Halsey: Who but the Didact's Hand could offer me a Promethean soul?

'Mdama: [Sangheili] What is it that you want?

Halsey: What we both want, Jul: Librarian. A powerful name for me as well as you. Librarian is very fond of humans. Did you know that?

Lasky: Doctor Halsey. I've underestimated you long enough. A cryo-tube should hold you unt- [Halsey walks up to Lasky and slaps him.]

Halsey: John's alive! He was here on this ship. Nobody told me he was alive!

Admiral Serin Osman: [to Lasky] I was advised to keep Catherine in the darkest, deepest hole I could find. Or, have her removed from the equation entirely. Regrettably, I chose to do neither. So, Captain, today I shall follow my predecessor's advice. You are hereby ordered to eliminate Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey.

Librarian: This is the Janus Key. It offers the real-time location of every piece of Forerunner technology in the galaxy.

Halsey: Every piece? [The Librarian connects the two pieces together. Holograms of star systems burst from it and surround the two women. Halsey examines them in fascination.]

Librarian: We did not create so much without a means to catalog it all. This was meant for my husband to help you people...when his meditation was complete. [The Librarian separates the pieces, and the holograms disappear. She holds out the pieces to Halsey.]] Take this key to the Absolute Record. Use what you find to propel humankind.

Halsey: Why give this to me?

Librarian: Requiem's time is at an end. The key and what it details must not be lost.

Palmer: What the hell are you guys doing here?!

DeMarco: Captain Lasky sent us to rescue Doctor Halsey.

Palmer: Rescue her? She's a traitor!

Thorne: All due respect, Commander: if she was on Jul 'Mdama's side, then why would she make sure I get this before he could? [Thorne holds up the half of the Janus Key.]

Jul 'Mdama: [Sangheili] You gave the other half to your compatriots.

Halsey: That's before I knew my compatriots were a hit squad, not a rescue team. [Cut to Halsey, seated on the deck. Her left arm has been amputated and the sleeve has been tied into a tourniquet.] Not that I faired much better in your care.

Jul 'Mdama: [Sangheili] After your betrayal, you are lucky I did not let you bleed to death. [Halsey stands up and walks up to 'Mdama, picking up the Key as she speaks.]

Halsey: The UNSC just tried to execute me. So you'll need to offer something other than idle threats if you want me to help you. [Jul 'Mdama angrily takes the Key from her, examining it for a moment.]

Jul 'Mdama: [Sangheili] What is it you desire?

Halsey: That's easy, Jul. [She glances at her arm.] I want revenge.

External links

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Halo 4