Unyielding
BORNEO SPACE TETHER, EARTH
The scene opens in high orbit over Earth at the Borneo Space Tether. Several UNSC naval ships are near the tether. An elevator shoots down the tether. The scene cuts to Linda-058 and Fred-104 inside the elevator.
- Fred-104: "Roger that Chief. We'll meet you at the rendezvous point when we're done here. Blue Two out."
- Linda-058: "John should be here too. They'd listen to him."
- Fred-104: "Somebody needs to be getting work done while we deal with the red tape."
- Linda-058: "What do you think they want from us?"
- Fred-104: "It's Naval Intelligence, Linda. They want us to tell them that everything's going to be okay."
- Linda-058: "Hate to disappoint."
The elevator is heard reaching the bottom of the tether. Cut to Fred and Linda walking down a hallway. A door in front of them automatically opens and they enter the room. They stand on top of the ONI insignia on the floor and look towards the ONI council.
- ONI councilor: "Blue Team, where's the Master Chief."
- Fred-104: "He asked that I answer the council's questions, sir."
- ONI councilor: (groans) "We've been reviewing your report.
A hologram of the Unyielding Hierophant space station forms between the Spartans and the council. The hologram begins to rotate.
- ONI councilor #2: "You found a Covenant command and control station. It says here that they were amassing an invasion fleet of more than five hundred ships."
- Fred-104: "The station was... sufficiently disabled. But the threat is still out there."
The hologram of the station explodes from the center and the rest of Unyielding Hierophant shatters into thousands of pieces.
- ONI councilor #3: "I have the report, but for the record of this council, what was this fleet's intended target, Spartan?"
Fred and Linda both turn to each other and stare. Fade to black. The scene cuts to Io Station orbiting Jupiter.
PROBE RELAY STATION IO, NEAR JUPITER
A UNSC naval crewman sits relaxed on his chair, asleep, with his feet kicked up onto his control console. Suddenly, an alarm sounds off and he awakes. His console flashes, reading "ALERT" in large, red letters. The crewman leans towards the console.
- Io Station crewman: "Station Control, can I get confirmation on Probe Charlie Three-One-Niner? Looks like it might be a faulty reading, but..."
As his console continues to flash with the alert warning, a voice in the station continues to repeat "Alert" over and over. The crewman begins typing on the console and the alarm stops.
- Io Station crewman: "This can't be right."
- Computer: "C-3-1-9 is active and functioning properly."
- Io Station crewman: "Station, alert Home Fleet immediately! They found us! The Covenant, they found Earth!"
The viewpoint's protective cover in front of the crewman begins to slide open, revealing Covenant ships outside the station. The crewman witnesses the Fleet of Sacred Consecration near Jupiter moving past Io Station.