Prototype

Template:Ratings Template:Infobox Movie Prototype is one of the seven short films in Halo Legends, the anime adaptation of the Halo universe.

The story follows Ghost, a UNSC Marine sent to Algolis to destroy a prototype powered armor. When he arrives, he finds the planet is still inhabited by humans who are under siege by the Covenant Empire. The suit is their only hope for survival.

Summary

Two Marines -- Ghost and an unnamed female -- take shelter in a forest on an unknown planet, surrounded by their dead comrades. The female marine asks her Sergeant about his call sign, "Ghost", while he dispassionately treats her wounds. With her dying words, she asks him, for once in his life, to "be human". The Marine's death and last words leave the usually-emotionless Ghost deeply disturbed.

Three years later, the planet Algolis is under attack by the Covenant. The Marines defending UNSC Weapons Research Facility T12A are taking heavy casualties fighting Covenant air and ground forces, trying to buy time for the remaining civilians to evacuate. However, the Hades Corps of UNSC Engineers refuses to retreat until they've destroyed all navigational data and prototype weapons in compliance with the Cole Protocol. As Covenant forces began their final push towards the base, the Prototype Suit the Marines were sent to destroy flies out of a nearby hangar.

The suit is being piloted by Ghost, who disobeyed the Cole Protocol in an effort to help the planet's civilians and his Marines escape. Ghost single-handedly engages the Covenant forces on the ground and in the air, taking out large numbers of their forces easily. In the ensuing battle, Ghost is overwhelmed by ground infantry. The suit's shielding system starts to fail, and the suit is completely disabled when a plasma grenade severs its (and Ghost's) left arm.

As Ghost struggles inside the disabled armor, he looks up at the escaping shuttles and flashes back to the female Marine's death. He admits that the moment she died in his arms, a part of him was lost and that he had become a "ghost" -- a shadow surrounded by death. A countdown on the suit's HUD finishes, and the suit's system requests a voice command to activate a self-destruct function. Ghost turns to face the advancing Covenant for one last glance, and gives the voice command: "be human". The prototype suit explodes in a nuclear detonation, killing Ghost and all the surrounding Covenant.

As the evacuees rendezvous with a UNSC Frigate in orbit of Algolis, Ghost's commanding officer reports that the Cole Protocol has been enforced, and that all navigational data and technology prototypes have been destroyed. He redacts his previous request for Ghost's court-martial, listing him as missing during heavy combat on Algolis and further stating that Ghost had demonstrated great conduct as a Marine and human being. He then informs of their rendezvous with the UNSC Heart of Midlothian.

Appearances

Characters Sergeant "Ghost" Unnamed Marine Organizations Covenant Empire United Nations Space Command UNSC Marine Corps Corps of Engineering Species Human Sangheili Unggoy Mgalekgolo Locations Algolis UNSC Weapons Research Facility T12A

Vehicles Prototype Powered Exoskeleton M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle Human Cargo Ship D77H-TCI Pelican UNSC Frigate Type-25 Assault Gun Carriage Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft Type-52 Troop Carrier Weapons MA5C Assault Rifle M7/Caseless Sub Machine Gun BR55HB SR Battle Rifle SRS99D-S2 AM Sniper Rifle Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle Type-51 Carbine Type-52 Directed Energy Support Weapon Assault Cannon Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol Type-1 Antipersonnel Grenade

Trivia

• After the first Human Cargo Ship lifts off and is destroyed, the next scene shows a Type-52 Troop Carrier with a Type-25 Assault Gun Carriage in the troop bay. This is inaccurate considering they are usually carried on the underside of Phantoms.
• All Covenant species in this episode have blue blood, despite the Elites and Hunters having purple and orange blood, respectively.
• Unfortunately, Ghost's sacrifice would technically be in vain, as in Halo Evolutions: Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, the UNSC Heart of Midlothian would, not soon after escaping Algolis, be boarded by a Covenant Special Forces team and every survivor, marine and civilian, that Ghost saved would be killed.