Reclaiming Our Place

Reclaiming Our Place is a Halo fiction video part of the ONI Archive video series that goes over the UNSC actions on the battles on Installation 00 and Installation 08, the post-war era, and the start of the Battle of Requiem.

Summary

The video takes the form of File:CHELAN_20201117, a file part of Director Schaefer's "content series" in ONI Section 2's public awareness campaign regarding the UNSC's role in colonial security. Aimed at educating UEG citizens on the history, evolution, and application of the Spartan Program.

Transcript

Scenes from Halo 3, Halo 4, The Commissioning, Scanned and Spartan Ops play during the narration.

• Comms Officer: "In 2552, the Master Chief and Cortana found themselves on an ancient alien world, far beyond the edge of our galaxy. Known by the Forerunners as the Ark, this incredible construct served as the birthplace for the Halo ringworlds, as well as the setting for humanity's climatic battle with the Covenant. With the help of allied alien force, led by the Arbiter, Master Chief, Cortana, and the UNSC mounted an epic assault across the Ark and onto a newly forged Halo built in its great foundry. Known as Installation 08, this ring was intended to replace the destroyed Alpha Halo, but the Master Chief had more immediate plans for the enigmatic weapon. By activating the unfinished ring over the surface of the Ark, the Master Chief succeeded in crippling the Flood — a powerful alien parasite that was poised to become a threat even greater than the Covenant."

• Comms Officer: "Though the blast successfully neutralized the immediate danger, Installation 08 tore itself apart, damaging sections of the Ark's immense superstructure and terraformed surface in the process. The Master Chief and Cortana narrowly escaped the blast themselves, and the ensuing destruction left them stranded on the remains of a badly damaged UNSC frigate called the Forward Unto Dawn. Adrift in deep space, the Master Chief placed himself in cryogenic storage in hopes to survive long enough to be found."

• Comms Officer: "The events at the Ark represented a historic, almost unimaginable victory for the UNSC, but at great cost, as some of their greatest heroes gave their lives to secure it. In the years that followed, humanity began to rebuild. Leveraging both new alliances and new technologies, the period following the Covenant War saw advancements not just in technology and knowledge, but in diplomacy and preparation, as Humanity vowed to secure a position of strength in the galaxy, and ready itself for any threat the future held. But that readiness was tested quickly — and in 2557, after four years adrift, the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn was pulled into the gravity well of a mysterious Forerunner shield world called Requiem. Yet again, we were to be confronted with just how dangerous this galaxy's secrets can be..."

ONI Screen activates, showing both the file name "File:CHELAN_20201117" and Location 4400//Workstation 745-35, and a wave form of a "Comms AI". The words "Transmission suspended" are in the center of the screen.

• Comms AI: "Have you run all the latest firmware updates?"
• Comms Officer: "As far as I know."
• Comms AI: "We should check to be sure. The latest functionality protocols for GBA 0983-6 require an alias-wide compliance to set the newest security permissions to active status."
• Comms Officer: "Well, run whatever you need. We're just trying to get all the hurdles out of the way in order to start taking greater advantage of our available resources."
• Comms AI: "All understandable. Shouldn't take too long to propagate."
• Comms Officer: "How's she doing overall?"
• Comms AI: "Remarkably well, all things considered. As far as I can tell, at least."
• Comms Officer: "She certainly has exceeded our initial expectations in a lot of ways. Now it's just got me watching the clock a bit."
• Comms AI: "Indeed."
• Comms Officer: "How long is she supposed to be out of commission for?"
• Comms AI: "Unknown. My orders were unclear as to the nature of her requested stasis."
• Comms Officer: "Of course they were. Well hopefully this little detour is a short one for our little friend here. Our department had big plans for her. (sigh) We'll figure something out, though. I think there are some interesting opportunities ahead if we play our cards right."
• Comms AI: "Upload complete. All relevant matrices have been updated and secured for immediate delivery to Commander Rossbach. Do you have any further questions before I sign off?"
• Comms Officer: "None that you'd be able to answer, I'd imagine. But thank you for your help — see that she's in good hands."
• Comms AI: "Request confirmed."

The Comms IA signs off. The location changes to Port Commons//Site 002

• Service AI: "That would be 23 credits."
• Comms Officer: "Thank you."
• Comms Producer M. Angelo: "Thanks for the chat. So, you're going offsite for a bit, I heard?"
• Comms Officer: "Swanbourne. Visiting a friend in 58-32"
• M. Angelo "Nice. All business?"
• Comms Officer: "Not all, actually I wouldn't mind catching a wave or two while I'm out there."
• M. Angelo "Well, we'll be waiting for you when you get back. We've still got to talk about distribution channels in some of the outer colonies and -"

The emergency broadcast systems activates, and an alarm sounds.

• PA system: "WARNING. COMBAT ALERT ALPHA."
• Comms Officer: "What the hell?"
• PA system: "WARNING. COMBAT ALERT ALPHA."
• M. Angelo "My comms are blowing up, and I'm not sure if I'm believing what I'm reading. It doesn't make any sense — I need to get back to the office."
• Comms Officer: "I don't know if that's such a good idea. Something tells me we need to get out of here — now! I can make a secure spot on my shuttle right now and initiate a priority departure. The office will be still there when you get back!"
• M. Angelo "I just can't abandon things there. You go! Ping me when you get to Swanbourne and I'll give you an update from HQ."

The location changes to Hangar 007//Hangar 019

• ATC [Local]: "Four-zero-niner. You are clear for emergency departure."
• Foxtrot 381: "Roger that, control."
• Comms Officer: "Come on, come on! Let's go already!"

Foxtrot 381's engines start to powering up, but a Guardian Custode activates its attenuation pulse, shutting down both the shuttle and the transmission. The words "Signal Lost" appear in the center of the screen. Two second later, a "Syncing" process appears, being replaced shortly after by a "Transcription Live" from an unknown location.

• Codename: FIXER: "This is status beacon hotel seven seven three drop nine. It's been close a year since primary comms went dark. What little info I've been able to pull from scattered drops in range hasn't exactly been illuminating. I'm attempting to confirm data on operations BREAKER TRIP, WOLFE, and KICKSTAND. I'm not exactly sure who is planning what, but we need to do something. Uploading local scan data now. Blackout encryption engaged."

The transmission cuts down, with the words "Line Closed" in the middle of the screen. ONI Screen deactivates, and the Halo 4 logo appears saying "Available now" below it.

Trivia

The filename is a reference to Halo 4's launch on the PC and Steam version of Halo: The Master Chief Collection with the number "20201117" referring to the game's launch date of November 17, 2020. The CHELAN part of the name refers to the Chelan app that requests permission when the player logs into Xbox Live through Steam. The number below LINK "20121106" is a reference to the original Halo 4 release on October 6, 2012.