Halo: Combat

"I'm hit!"

"Suck it up!"

— Bravo-21, T. Rymarr

Halo: Combat^[1] is a short video created in collaboration with Bungie Studios, Neill Blomkamp, WETA Digital and Origami Digital LLC. It is roughly 1:33 minutes long and is the second video in the trilogy, and was leaked on August 23, 2007. The video was officially released via WETA's website on August 28, 2007. On August 31, 2007, the video was revealed to be on the Xbox website under the name Combat: Part 1. The story told in the short was later concluded in Halo: Last One Standing.

Synopsis

The short film follows two UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Troopers fighting across a wasteland, being engaged by Covenant Loyalist forces, led by the Jiralhanae. The film starts off with two ODSTs of Alpha Team, Bravo-21 (T. Rymarr) and Bravo-22 (S. Hartley), being tracked on an aerial camera as they move through a wasteland with gunfire going off around them along with several Banshee Fuel Rod strikes closely missing them.

Bravo-22 is tracking something on a hand-held scanner, and retrieves an elongated casing labeled "UNSC" from under a pile of debris while Bravo-21 gives him covering fire against fast-moving enemies. Superheated metal spikes impale the wall that they are near as a pair of Jiralhanae Minors open fire with Type-25 Carbine weapons. Bravo-21 shoots them both with a BR55HB SR Battle Rifle, downing one as Bravo-22 calls for evacuation, prompting a D77H-TCI Pelican Dropship to begin its descent to their position as Bravo-21 kills the second Brute with his BR55HB SR.

Bravo-21 is almost killed by a Fuel Rod Cannon strike from a strafing Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft, and at this time, radar or radio dishes can be seen in the distance. The Pelican drops off a M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle, prompting the ODSTs to make a run for it in the middle of an exposed area. Bravo-21 takes the driver's seat while Bravo-22 takes the passenger seat. Bravo-22 is then hit from an unknown source of fire, splattering smears of blood against the Warthog's windshield and the camera. The Warthog smashes through a wall then, shortly afterward, the film ends with 'Transmission Terminated, End Part 1'.

Transcript

{Radio Chatter}

Bravo-22: Fifteen meters ahead, turn right.

Male over radio: You got Banshees moving in on your position, Team Two.

Bravo-22: East, ten meters. Go, go, go!

(Brute Chatter)

Male over radio: Watch out for Brutes, Alpha Team.

(Radio Chatter)

Bravo-22: Bingo. Got it.

(Radio Chatter)

Bravo-22: Package retrieved; need immediate evac, over. Package retrieved.

Pelican pilot: Roger that, Team Two. Warthog inbound.

Bravo-21: Come on, sucker!

Bravo-21: Ooh!

Bravo-21: Move move. Go! Go! Go!

Bravo-21: Bravo Kilos moving west.

Female voice (Possibly Warthog AI): Caution, incoming fighters.

Bravo-21: Come on!

Bravo-22: Aah! I'm hit!

Bravo-21: Suck it up!

(Biomonitors starts to beep)

(Radio Chatter)

(Bravo-21 yells as the Warthog plows into a wall.)

TRANSMISSION TERMINATED. END PART 1.

Trivia

At the 1:09 mark, on the right hand side of the screen, 13 black shapes (kill tags) can be seen on the Warthog's windshield: eight Grunts, three Elites (likely given that the Warthog was in service before the Great Schism), and two Brutes.
The battle most likely takes place at and around Forward Operating Base Orgun-E in East Afghanistan, as the coordinates shown on the video are in close proximity to the base.
Although the battle takes place during the second Covenant invasion of Earth, the date on the camera says that it is September 12th, 2534 at 1:00 AM, which puts it almost 20 years prior to the invasion of Earth. This is obviously a production error.
The BR55HB SR rifles that the Marines and ODSTs use are equipped with flashlights and laser modules. They are also equipped with a fully automatic firing mode, which has not been seen elsewhere.
The short was filmed at a Wellington, New Zealand landfill.
The Pelican that drops the Warthog has a clamp that holds the crossbar of the Warthog instead of an electromagnet.
At 0:18, a Brute can be seen carrying a unusually large Spike Grenade which appears to be almost as large as a Gravity Hammer.