Unspoken

"Assigned to a freighter escaping the destruction of Harvest, two Marines confiscated alien energy shields while defending passengers from an enemy boarding assault. Their heroics led to a technological breakthrough that accelerated the development of the Master Chief's defense system."

— Official description

Unspoken is a Halo Infinite trailer under the UNSC Archives series. It was released on November 2, 2021.

Plot summary

A UNSC Archive is accessed. It tells of the events following a Kig-Yar point defense gauntlet having been recovered by the UNSC, and how its recovery expedited the development of energy shielding on the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor.

The archive is a video log of Lance Corporal Chris Preston onboard Anchor 9, who recorded a video intended for David Dominguez's parents. Narrated by the AI translating Preston's sign language, Preston's log told of Dominguez's heroic actions, how the two recovered valuable intel important to the United Nations Space Command, and how Preston will miss Dominguez.

Transcript

The trailer starts with a United Nations Space Command logo with the text below it saying "UNSC Archives" and "Orion II: MJÖLNIR DEVELOPMENT". The archive opens with a load of data.

After the data loaded, the following text appeared, and a model of John-117 in his MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor (GEN3) Mark VI set appeared.

SYSTEM COMPONENT
[ENERGY SHIELD]

SPARTAN OPERATIONS
MJÖLNIR POWERED ASSAULT ARMOR
GEN 3
MARK VI

Following the focus on the armor text appeared giving a quick overview of what happened before the archive started.

[GATHERING DATA...]
ENTRY DATE: 2526.01.17

ASSIGNED TO A FREIGHTER ESCAPING THE DESTRUCTION OF HARVEST, TWO MARINES CONFISCATED ALIEN ENERGY SHIELDS WHILE DEFENDING PASSENGERS FROM AN ENEMY BOARDING ASSAULT.

THIS LED TO A TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGH THAT ACCELERATED THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MASTER CHIEF'S DEFENSE SYSTEM.

INITIATING VIDEO LOG...

A view of a medical station in space is displayed, leading onto a room where a person named Chris Preston is sitting using sign language to speak, with an AI preparing a voice reconstruction program.

• AI: "Activating verbal reconstruction."

The following text appears:

SRRS-01007
MEDICAL REHABILITATION SECTOR
2526.01.17
0930 HRS

• AI: "Begin."

• Chris Preston (AI speaking): "Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dominguez."

The following text appears:

IDENTIFICATION
CHRIS PRESTON
DOB: 2501.12.4

• Chris Preston (AI speaking): "You don't know me, but I know you."

The following text appears:

RANK
LANCE CORPORAL
TEMPORARY LIMITED DUTY

• Chris Preston (AI speaking): "I served with your son. He spoke of you all the time."

The text vanishes to allow focus on Chris Preston.

• Chris Preston (AI speaking): "I was there, we were ambushed by Jackals. David didn't flinch. He led. He was brave. And I followed him into battle. Together we fought them off. But we paid a price. While they carried us to a medivac, all he was worried about was you."

The camera rotates to show a screen of shapes and lines.

• Chris Preston (AI speaking): "I tried to tell him that his parents would be proud, but..."

The camera shows the stitches on Chris Preston's throat.

• Chris Preston (AI speaking): "... my throat."

The camera then goes behind Preston's head.

• Chris Preston (AI speaking): "And then I started to feel confused. And I lost consciousness. When I awoke, he was gone. David saved many, many lives. he seized vital technology. Critical to UNSC defenses. He was the brother I always wanted. He will always be my brother. And your son? He loved you. He loved you 'till the end."

The words "Become" then "Halo Infinite are shown on the screen.

Production notes

Chris Preston was portrayed by actor Jamal Ajala. The sign language used was the British version of sign language.

Trivia

• Chris Preston's message was recorded on January 17, a 117 reference.