Meridian Station

Meridian Station is the fourth campaign level of Halo 5: Guardians. It is the first non-combat mission in the game, instead calling the player(s) to speak to non-playable characters as objectives. Weapons cannot be fired on this mission. Completing the level in any difficulty will unlock "Roots of the Earth", worth 10 Gamerscore points.

Transcript

FRONTIER

{Gameplay}

Fireteam Osiris arrives at the path to Meridian Station, the hub town for mining operations on the planet. All the Spartans have their weapons holstered.

• Jameson Locke: "Governor Sloan, I was hoping we might have a word."

• Sloan (COM): "Come into town and we'll talk. I trust you won't cause any trouble."

• Locke: "We'll be with you shortly. Tanaka, what kind of welcome can we expect this far out?"

• Holly Tanaka (COM): "Frontier colony like this? Not much. Bet suggestion is to keep weapons down and hands off."

The Spartans walk up the hill, where they hear Sloan broadcasting a speech to the town's residents.

• Miner: "Here come the Spartans Sloan was talking about."

If the player stalls.

• Edward Buck (COM): Best not keep the Governor waiting.

The Spartans pass around or over the gate, where they see the miners assembled around a large platform. In the center of the platform is an enormous blue hologram of a nude human male. One of its arms is distorted.

• Locke: "Is that Governor Sloan?"

The hologram finishes its speech and shuts off.

• Miner: (Aside) "Not too excited about kissing the behind of UNSC..."

• Locke: "He's an AI."

• Olympia Vale (COM): "What's wrong with him? He looks broken."

• Tanaka (COM): "Rampancy onset. Late stage, from the looks. Probably sacrificing resolution for logic cycles."

• Sloan (COM): "I have welcomed you to my home. Do not be so rude as to make my health a point of conversation."

• Locke: "Of course, Governor. My apologies. We're looking for another Spartan fireteam."

• Sloan (COM): "Why so many Spartans here?! Why now?! ...I'm unaware of other UNSC agents in our midst, but you've done right by my people so far. Have your look but make it quick. Governor Sloan out."

• Buck (COM): "So where do you we start looking?"

• Locke: "The best intel in a place like this comes from the people. Keep your ears open."

The following can be done in either order.

Medical Station

If the player goes to the medical station.

• Doctor: "What happened over at the comms tower, Ed?"

• Ed: "A station signal was coming through, distress call, but then the tower caught on fire, and..."

• Doctor: "Okay Ed, just relax. Your painkillers should kick in soon..."

• Ed: "We heard yelling about things coming out the caves, then screams, then... nothing."

• Locke: "We might be able to help. Where was that transmission sent from?"

• Ed: "UNSC swooping down to take our claim... I'll tell you what, our folks at Apogee are plenty strong. Don't think you vultures can pick bones so fast."

• Buck (COM): "Wait, what'd he say? Apogee? I think that's our location."

Laboratory

If the player goes to the science lab.

• Researcher: "Was anyone with you at the outpost?"

• Miner: "Just me. I heard we got hit here and hopped a Mongoose back. Right as I left a ship flew past in the other direction, real low."

• Locke: "You saw a ship? Any markings?"

• Miner: "Pound glass, UNSC. Not my problem if your buddies didn't tell you where they parked. You oughta synchronize your drop zones better next time."

• Tanaka (COM): "Catch that? Sounds like it was a UNSC ship."

Football Easter Egg

If the player finds a vending machine and activates the buttons.

• Locke: "Machine's buttons seem to be in order."

or

• Tanaka: "Somebody's done a fine job of keeping this operational."

If the player activates the machine ten times, a giant football appears nearby. The sound of a referee's whistle and stadium cheering crowd is heard.

• Locke: "Will you look at that."

or

• 'Vale: "Hostile ball on the field!"

• Buck (COM): "Used to play a fair bit of football in my day."

• Locke: "Bring it on old man. Let's see who can score first."

If the player pushes the football into a goal.

• Buck (COM): "GOAL! Goal! Goal! Goal! Goal!"

• Locke: "Alright Osiris, playtime is over. Let's get on with it."

Brazilian Guy

On the roof of a building are two miners. If the player approaches them

• Miner 1: "Hey, Spartan! My friend here has some strange ideas about the aliens who attacked us."

If the player speaks to the other miner.

• Locke: "Hello."

• Miner 2: "(in Brazilian Portuguese) Eles agiam como se estivessem recebendo ordens de uma grande central inteligência. (They acted like they were receiving orders from a great central intelligence.)"

• Miner 1: "Uh-huh. Yeah. Ah, um. He says they were... very intelligent."

• Miner 2: "Uma rede neural tão avançada seria capaz de abordar a degradação que ocorre com o envelhecimento de inteligências artificiais. (Such an advanced neural network would be capable of halting the degradation process that happens to artificial intelligences.)"

• Miner 1: "And, something about... degrading networks?"

• Miner 2: "Você não entende? Se as inteligências artificiais pudessem ser hospedadas inteiramente numa matriz de rede, nada impediria elas de superar a vida biológica. (Don't you understand? If artificial intelligences could be forever hosted in a network matrix, nothing would stop them from surpassing biological life.)"

• Miner 1: "He says... never mind. Sorry for wasting your time, Spartans."

If the player speaks to them again.

• Miner 2: "Agente sabe como derrotá-los. (We know how to defeat them.)"

• Miner 1: "The creatures who attacked, they have a terrible weakness."

• Miner 2: "Leve eles pro chão e estão perdidos. (Take them to the ground and they're over.)"

• Miner 1: "They're heavily armed but they have no ground game."

• Miner 2: "Principalmente os grandões (Especially the big ones.)"

• Miner 1: "Throw your guns away and get them in an armbar. Yeah."

• Miner 2: "A não ser que eles sejam mais fortes do que parecem. Os Spartans com certeza vão morrer. (Unless they're stronger than they look. The Spartans will surely die.)"

• Miner 1: "You can't lose, man!"

Idle Dialogue

• Vale (COM): "I’ve never seen a glassed planet in person before. It’s kind of… pretty."

• Buck (COM): "Vale, you got a weird idea of pretty."

• Tanaka (COM): "Home world got glassed. Was on the other side of Minab when the Covies hit the capital city. Survived the blast easy. But when the ground melts…debris gets thrown into the atmosphere. Blocks out the sun. Instant ice age for the whole world. Surviving that’s a bit less easy."

• Buck (COM): "Never could wrap my head around those independent colony types."

• Tanaka (COM): "What's to understand? People like their freedom."

• Buck (COM): "UNSC ain't exactly a totalitarian state."

• Tanaka (COM): "It's still a state, a state who says where a body can settle and where it can't."

• Buck (COM): "You gotta wonder if it's even possible to resettle this mess."

• Tanaka (COM): "There's sense to the plan. Chip off the glass, hope the soil is still viable."

• Buck (COM): "Quarter-mile deep sea of slag? Across most of the globe?"

• Tanaka (COM): "That's where the hope figures in."

Conclusion

After speaking to both persons of interest.

• Vale (COM): "So Apogee came under attack, and then a UNSC ship was seen heading that way."

• Locke: "Find a network terminal. I want to know more about Apogee Station."

• Tanaka (COM): "Artemis ought to be able to track down a suitable network terminal. Ping it."

Locke heads to a terminal and scans it with the Artemis.

• Locke: "Accessing terminal..."

The terminal's screen turns purple as Governor Sloan comes online.

• Sloan (COM): "Did I give you permission to poke about?"

• Locke: "Your people saw a UNSC ship out near Apogee Station."

• Sloan (COM): "UNSC at Apogee? Why are you people all over my planet?"

• Locke: "With your permission, we'd like to ask them ourselves."

• Sloan (COM): "There's a cargo Pelican on the Meridian Station landing pad. It'll get you out to Apogee the quickest."

• Locke: "We appreciate it, Governor."

• Sloan (COM): "I'm sure you do."

Locke and Osiris head to the loaned Pelican.

• Locke: "Boarding the Pelican!"

Level ends.

Trivia

• If the player speaks to a person of interest (the two plot-required settlers) and immediately leaves, their dialogue will continue playing and be heard no matter where the player is.
• The Portuguese settler speaks Spanish in the Portuguese translation, but by the same actor with a heavy Brazilian accent.