Editing Catherine Halsey/Quotes (section)

==''[[Halo: The Fall of Reach]]''==
===Chapter 1===
*"We must be near Eridanus." - Halsey's first words to Keyes after exiting her cryotube.
*"I’m fine, Lieutenant. Get cleaned up and dressed. Hurry. We have important work to do.” - After Keyes offers his help in getting dressed and to work.
*“Welcome, Lieutenant. Please have a seat at the communication station and monitor the channels when we enter normal space. If there’s so much as a squeak on nonstandard frequencies, I want to know instantly.”
* “Toran? Give me astrogation maps of the system. Are there any planets currently aligned with our entry trajectory and Eridanus Two? I want to pick up a gravitational boost so we can move in-system ASAP. And can we have some music? Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto Number Three, I think. And start a preburn warm-up cycle for the fusion engines. And stop spinning theHan ’s central carousel section. We may need the power.” - To the ''Han'''s AI [[Toran]].
*“Yes, Lieutenant? You have a question?”
*“A fairly accurate assumption and analysis, Lieutenant. This ''is'' a reconnaissance mission... of sorts. We are here to observe a child. The first of many, I hope.” - When Keyes asks why they've been sent to survey this system.
*“A six-year-old male, to be precise. It may help if you think of this purely as a UNSC-funded physiological study. Which is precisely what you are to tell anyone who asks. Is that understood, Lieutenant?”
*"I hate cryo sleep. It leaves one so cramped.”
*“Oh yes, I know how dangerous this system is. It has a colorful history: rebel insurrection in 2494, beaten down by the UNSC two years later at the cost of four destroyers. I don’t believe the Office of Naval Intelligence ever found their base in the asteroid field. And since there have been organized raids and scattered pirate activity nearby, one might conclude—as ONI clearly has—that the remnants of the original rebel faction are still active. Is that that[sic] what you were worried about?” - When Keyes protests that this system is dangerous for just the two of them.
*“Speaking of pirates, weren’t you supposed to be monitoring communication channels for illegal signals? Just in case someone takes undue interest in a lone, unescorted, diplomatic shuttle?”
*"Continue to monitor them, please."
*“You don’t need my permission. By all means, speak candidly, Lieutenant. You’ve been doing a fine job so far.” - When Keyes asks to voice his opinion.
*“Then, Lieutenant, I shall be equally candid. You are here because Vice Admiral Stanforth, head of Section Three of UNSC Military Intelligence Division, refused to lend me this shuttle without at least one UNSC officer aboard—even though he knows damn well that I can pilot this bucket by myself. So I picked one UNSC officer. You. You see, I’ve read your file, Lieutenant. All of it.” - When Keyes expresses that he feels he's less qualified for this mission.
*“You ''do'' know what I’m talking about. You don’t lie well. Don’t insult me by trying again.” - When Keyes denies knowing what she's referring to.
*“I chose you precisely because of your record—because of the incident in your second year at OCS. Fourteen ensigns killed. You were wounded and spent two months in rehabilitation. Plasma burns are particularly painful, I understand. The Lieutenant responsible was your CO on that training mission. You refused to testify against him despite overwhelming evidence and the testimony of his fellow officers . . . and friends. They told the board of review the secret the Lieutenant had entrusted to you all—that he was going to test his new theory to make Slipspace jumps more accurate. He was wrong, and you all paid for his eagerness and poor mathematics. Despite continuing pressure, you never testified. They threatened to demote you, charge you with insubordination and refusing a direct order—even discharge you from the Navy. Your fellow officer candidates testified, though. The review board had all the evidence they needed to court-martial your CO. They put you on report and dropped all further disciplinary actions. That is why you are here, Lieutenant—because you have an ability that is exceedingly rare in the military. You can keep a secret. You may have to keep many secrets after this mission is over.”
* “I think that you would rather be on the ''Magellan'' . Fighting and dying on the frontier.”
*“Indeed, Lieutenant, ever since we left Earth’s gravity, well, we’ve been fighting one another for every cubic centimeter of vacuum—from Mars to the Jovian Moons to the Hydra System Massacres and on to the hundred brushfire wars in the Outer Colonies. It has always been on the brink of falling apart. That’s why we’re here.”
*“This child could be more useful to the UNSC than a fleet of destroyers, a thousand Junior Grade Lieutenants—or even me . In the end, the child may be the only thing that makes any difference.” - When Keyes asks what difference could the one child make.

===Chapter 2===
*“It’s nice here. This colony doesn’t know how good they’ve got it. Rural lifestyle. No pollution. No crowding. Climate-controlled weather.” - Halsey regarding [[Eridanus II]].
*"Relax. We’re supposed to be parents inspecting the school for our little girl." - To Keyes, who is uncomfortable in a civilian suit.
*Number 117 had all the genetic markers she had flagged in her original study—he was as close to a perfect subject for her purposes as science could determine. But Dr. Halsey knew it would take more than theoretical perfection to make this project work. People were more than the sum of their genes. There were environmental factors, mutations, learned ethics, and a hundred other factors that could make this candidate unacceptable. - Halsey's thoughts in John as a subject.
*“You like games. So do I.” - Halsey to John when meeting him after his King of the Hill winning streak.
*“I have a different game I want you to try. Look. People used coins like this for currency a long time ago, when Earth was the only planet we lived on.” Each side is different. Do you see? One has the face of a man with long hair. The other side has a bird, called an eagle, and it’s holding—”
*“We’ll use this coin in our game. If you win you can keep it.”
*“It’s very simple. I toss the coin like this. Next time, though, before it lands, I want you to tell me if it will fall with the face of the man showing or with the eagle holding the arrows.”
*Was it possible that he saw which side was up when he grabbed it . . . or more improbably, could have picked which side he wanted? - Halsey's thoughts on John correctly guessing the right side.
*She shouldn’t have used his name. That was a bad sign. She couldn’t afford the luxury of liking her test subjects. She mentally stepped away from her feelings. She had to maintain a professional distance. She had to... because in a few months Number 117 might not be alive.
*“We screen these subjects for certain genetic markers. Strength, agility, even predispositions for aggression and intellect. But we couldn’t remote test for everything. We don’t test for luck.” - When Keyes asked why she tested John with a coin.
*“Of course not. But we have one hundred and fifty test subjects to consider, and facilities and funding for only half that number. It’s a simple mathematical elimination, Lieutenant. That child was one of the lucky ones—either that or he is extraordinarily fast. Either way, he’s in.” - When Keyes asks if she believes in luck.
*“I hope that continues, Lieutenant. For your sake, I hope you never understand what we’re doing.”

===Chapter 3===
*Dr. Halsey knew what she had to do. Her duty. It was for the greater good. All humanity would be served... even if a tiny handful of them had to suffer for it. Still, when she turned inward and faced her complicity in this—she was revolted by what she saw.
*“I’m forgoing your recommendations, Déjà. I’m going to tell them the truth.” - When Déjà's psychological evaluations tell Halsey that it'd be better to lie to the children why they've been taken.
*“So do lies. Any story fabricated to motivate the children—claiming their parents were taken and killed by pirates, or by a plague that devastated their planet—if they learned the truth later, they would turn against us.” - When Déjà tells Halsey that the truth has risks.
*“A memory loss that may leak into other parts of the brain. No, this will be dangerous enough for them even with intact minds.” - When Déjà suggests wiping the children's memories of their parents.
*“They’ll adapt. Or they won’t, and they will be untrainable and unsuitable for the project. Either way I just want to get this over with.”
*“As per Naval Code 45812, you are hereby conscripted into the UNSC Special Project, codenamed SPARTAN II. You have been called upon to serve. You will be trained . . . and you will become the best we can make of you. You will be the protectors of Earth and all her colonies. This will be hard to understand, but you cannot return to your parents. This place will become your home. Your fellow trainees will be your family now. The training will be difficult. There will be a great deal of hardship on the road ahead, but I know you will all make it. Rest now. We begin tomorrow.”
*“Keep them busy tomorrow. Keep them from thinking about what we’ve just done to them.” - To Mendez and Déjà.

===Chapter 5===
*“Do? I think that’s obvious, Chief. Make him a Squad Leader.” - To Mendez, after hearing John's testimony about why he ordered his Spartans to attack the men guarding the Pelican.

===Chapter 6===
*“I want that transmission decoded now.” - Referring to the encrypted messaged sent to her by Admiral [[Ysionris Jeromi]].
*“On my glasses, please, Déjà.” - Halsey's glasses scan her retinas to allow her access to classified documents.
*She winced at the veiled rebuke in the Admiral’s communiqué. He had never approved of her decision to work with the Office of Naval Intelligence, and made his disappointment with his star pupil evident every time she visited ''Hopeful''. It was hard enough to justify the morality of the course she was about to embark upon. Jeromi’s disapproval only made her decision more difficult.
*“I have doubts, Déjà. I thought the reasons so compelling when we first started project SPARTAN. Now? I... I just don’t know.” - After seeing Jeromi's calculations for the [[SPARTAN-II augmentation procedures|augmentation surgery]]'s risks of failure.
*“Only if they survive to fulfill that mission. We should delay the procedures. More research needs to be done. We could use the time to work on MJOLNIR. We need time to—” - After Déjà reminds her of the predicted climaxing of the [[Insurrection]].
*“I hate this. And sometimes, Déjà, I hate you, too.”  - After Déjà warns that ONI might replace Halsey with someone with fewer moral qualms.
*“I’ll tell you how to win, John. You have to survive.” - To John during his surgery, as he asks how to pass this "mission".

===Chapter 8===
*“[[First Battle of Harvest|Our situation has changed]]. Where are my Spartans? They are not in their barracks, nor on any of the ranges.”
*“Maybe you should explain that statement, Chief.” - When Mendex tells her the Spartans have had to train elsewhere.
*“I presume you do not have my Spartans taking inventory today, Chief?” - When Mendez tells her they're now in an abandoned titanium mine.
*“I’m not sure I see the connection between this place, my Spartans, and the exoskeleton projects, but I’ll play along a bit further. Yes, I know all about the Mark I prototypes. We had to scrap the concept and redesign battle armor from the ground up for the MJOLNIR project. The Mark Is consumed enormous energy. Either they had to be plugged into a generator or use inefficient broadcast power—neither option is practical on a battlefield. They used the units that weren’t scrapped as dock loaders to move heavy equipment. Or might they have been dumped in a place like this?” - When Mendez asks her if she knows about the MJOLNIR Mark I.
*“You haven’t put ''my'' Spartans in some of those antiques?”
*“Then they are faster and stronger than we anticipated?” - After Mendez tells her three trainers were accidentally killed by the Spartans.
*“Capture the flag? Past all that heavy armor?” - When witnessing their new training field.
*“Where are the Spartans?”
*“He’s at point blank range! Even stun rounds can kill at that distance!” - When seeing John attack one of the Mark Is.
*“Show me that again. You recorded all that, didn’t you?”
*“They should not be performing so well. There must be unexplained synergistic effects brought on by the combined modifications. What are their reaction times?” - After Mendez tells her the Spartans run at an average of 55&nbsp;mph.
*“Any physiological or mental instabilities?”
*“They might as well have been killed. But can the Spartans kill, Chief? Kill on purpose? Are they ready for real combat?” - Regarding the trainers' inability to get out of their armor.
*“Something has happened, Chief. [[Covenant|Something ONI and the Admiralty never expected]]. The brass wants to deploy the Spartans. They want to test them in a real combat mission.”
*“Your rumors are out-of-date, Chief. There’s no more fighting at Harvest. There ''is'' no more Harvest.” - When Mendez says he's heard rumors of the fighting at Harvest.
*“Get them out of this hole. I want them ready to muster at 0400. We have a briefing at 0600 tomorrow aboard the ''Pioneer''. We’re taking them on a mission ONI has been saving for the right crew and the right time. This is it.
*“Tomorrow we see if all the pain they’ve been through has been worth it.”

===Chapter 9===
*“Good morning, Spartans. I have good news for you. The word has come down. Command has decided to test your unique abilities. You have a new mission: an insurgent base in the Eridanus System.”
*“In 2513, an armed insurrection in this system was suppressed by the UNSC force—Operation: TREBUCHET. The insurrection was put down. However, elements of the rebel forces escaped and regrouped in the local asteroid belt. Billions of rocks, where they hid from our forces... and continue to hide to this day. For some time ONI believed that the rebels were disorganized, and were lacking in leadership. That appears to have changed. We believe that one of these asteroids has been hollowed out, and that a formidable base has been constructed within. UNSC explorations into the belt have met either with no contact or with an ambush by superior forces. The Office of Naval Intelligence has also confirmed that FLEETCOM has discovered a security breach within their organization—a rebel sympathizer leaking information to these forces. This is their leader, Colonel Robert Watts. The original photo was taken after Operation: TREBUCHET and has been computer aged. Your mission is to infiltrate the rebel base, capture Watts, and return him—alive and unharmed—to UNSC-controlled space. This will deprive the rebels of their new leadership. And it will provide ONI a chance to interrogate Watts and root out traitors within FLEETCOM.”

===Chapter 12===
*“Spartan-117. Report to the bridge immediately.”
*“We haven’t let this be widely known, but when the aliens were first detected at Harvest, they appeared at extreme range... and then they were suddenly much closer.” Revealing that Covenant ships are capable of intra-system slipspace jumps.
*“Correctly surmised, Spartan.” - When John answers her statement.
*“You mean ''we'' cannot navigate with that kind of accuracy.” - When Captain Wallace denies that slipspace can be navigated through that accurately.
*“We’ll be using the ''Commonwealth''’s dropship to go to the testing facility on Chi Ceti Four. We have to get to Project MJOLNIR. Before ''they'' do. So get the others ready.”
*"A Covenant ship." - When the ''[[Unyielding]]'' arrives to attack the ''Commonwealth''.
*“Energy shields. Even ships this small have energy shielding.” - When the ''Unyielding'' emerges completely undamaged from the Archer missile barrage.
*“No. Evasive maneuvers, Captain. Now!” - After Wallace gives the order to finish off the ''Unyielding''.
*“Respectfully, Captain, I suggest that you alert the crew to get on respirator packs. Give them thirty seconds then vent the atmosphere on all decks, except the bridge.” - After the ''Commonwealth'''s armor is destroyed, and most of its decks breached.
*“Plasma. But not any plasma we know... they can actually guide its trajectory through space, without any detectable mechanism. Amazing.” - When asked what the ''Commonwealth'' was shot with.
*“Not quite. The ''Commonwealth'' carries three nuclear missiles, correct, Captain?”
*“The Longsword interceptors?” - When John suggest giving the Covenant ship another target to engage.
*“We don’t know if our weapons ''can'' destroy them. But at least we know we can slow them down.” - After the ''Unyielding'' survives a nuclear missile.
*“Captain? A flyby?” - After Wallace orders the ''Commonwealth'' to head to the Damascus Facility to drop off Halsey and the Spartans.
*“We need to hurry. We don’t have much time—and there is a great deal I need to show the Spartans.”

===Chapter 13===
*“Project MJOLNIR. “The armor’s shell is a multilayer alloy of remarkable strength. We recently added a refractive coating to disperse incoming energy weapon attacks—to counter our new enemies. Each battlesuit also has a gel-filled layer to regulate temperature; this layer can reactively change in density. Against the skin of the operator, there is a moisture-absorbing cloth suit, and biomonitors that constantly adjust the suit’s temperature and fit. There’s also an onboard computer that interfaces with your standard-issue neural implant.”
*“Most importantly, the armor’s inner structure is composed of a new reactive metal liquid crystal. It is amorphous, yet fractally scales and amplifies force. In simplified terms, the armor doubles the wearer’s strength, and enhances the reaction speed of a normal human by a factor of five. There is one problem, however. This system is so reactive that our previous tests with unaugmented volunteers ended in... failure.”
*“Normal humans don’t have the reaction time or strength required to drive this system. You do. Your enhanced musculature and the metal and ceramic layers that have been bonded to your skeleton ''should'' be enough to allow you to harness the armor’s power. There has been... insufficient computer modeling, however. There will be some risk. You’ll have to move very slowly and deliberately until you get a feel for the armor and how it works. It cannot be powered down, nor can the response be scaled back. Do you understand?”
*“Right now. Volunteers?” - When John asks when they'll try them on.
*“You’ve always been lucky, John. Let’s go.” - Choosing John to test the armor first.
*“Listen carefully to me, John. I just want you to think, and only think, about moving your arm up to chest level. Stay relaxed.”
*“Petty Officer, run through the obstacle course. We will proceed to fit the other Spartans. We don’t have a great deal of time left.”
*“Carefully, Petty Officer. Very carefully, please."
*“It will come to you soon enough. You’ve already received some subliminal training during your last cryo sleep; now all you need is time to get used to the suits.”
*“Spartans, so far so good. If anyone is experiencing difficulties with the suit or its controls, please report in.”
*“You’re the only ones who can use them, Petty Officer. Who else could we give them to?" - When John asks if they're keeping the armor.
*“No, Captain. We’re going to have to fight them... and this time we have to win.” - When the ''Commonwealth'' offers to sacrifice itself to draw the Covenant ship away for longer.

===Chapter 14===
*“Captain Wallace may be trying to use Chi Ceti’s magnetic field to deflect the Covenant’s plasma weapon. Try and catch up, Petty Officer.”
*“Covenant ship to port. Three million kilometers and closing on the ''Commonwealth''.”
*“Of course. It was one of our first design considerations. The suit can recycle air for ninety minutes. It’s shielded against radiation and EMP as well.” - When John asks if their MJOLNIR suits can operate in vacuum.
*“May I ask what you have in mind, Squad Leader?”
*“Most certainly not,” she said. “If a warship like the ''Commonwealth'' couldn’t destroy it, a Pelican is certainly no match for them.” - When John asks for he and the other Spartans to engage the ''Unyielding''.
*“How will you get onboard?” - When John suggests a boarding operation.
*“One slight error in your trajectory, and you could miss by kilometers.”
*"They have reflective shields."
*“It’s a tremendous risk.”
*“Very well. Go. And blow the hell out of them.”
*“Covenant ship approaching. I’m pumping out your atmosphere to avoid explosive decompression when I drop the back hatch.”

===Chapter 24===
*“I hope they treated you well... or at least decently.” - After John's debriefing at Camp Hathcock.
*“How are you, Master Chief?”
*“Indeed it was. How would you like to have another victory? The biggest we’ve ever had?”
*“I was counting on you to say that, Master Chief. We’ll be speaking soon.” 
*“Open these damn doors, soldier. Let’s get this over with.”
*“I’ll be speaking to you and the other Spartans, soon.”

===Chapter 25===
*“Blame security, Déjà. “ONI’s precautions here are becoming increasingly ridiculous.” - When Déjà tells Halsey she's arrived 14 minutes later than usual.
*None of that really mattered. It was just a means to an end for Dr. Halsey... a means to getting Project MJOLNIR back on track. - When reminiscing on her fame from the Spartans' success.
*She reached for her coffee cup and knocked a stack of papers off her desk. They fell, scattered onto the floor, and she didn’t bother to retrieve them. She examined the mud-brown dregs in the bottom of the mug; it was several days old.
*The office of the most important scientist in the military was not the antiseptic clean-room environment most people expected. Classified files and papers littered the floor. The holographic projector overhead painted the ceiling with a field of stars. Rich maple paneling covered the walls and hanging there were framed photographs of her SPARTAN IIs, receiving awards, and the plethora of articles about them that appeared when the Admiralty had made the project public three years ago. They had been called the UNSC’s “super soldiers.” The military brass had assured her that the boost to morale was worth the compromised security.
*At first she had protested. But ironically, the publicity had proved convenient. With all the attention on the Spartans’ heroics, no one had thought to question their true purpose—or their origin. If the truth ever came to light—abducted children, replaced by fast-grown clones; the risky, experimental surgeries and biochemical augmentations—public opinion would turn against the SPARTAN project overnight.
*“Déjà. The spooks are nervous. I need to power you down, or ONI won’t give me access to the files.” - After finding she can't access her classified documents with Déjà present.
*“—which was classified as Top Secret, Eyes Only.” - When [[Cortana]] appears and tells Halsey she's read the report.
*“I assume you have examined the classified data brought back from Sigma Octanus Four?”
*“I am aware of that. One of those opportunities is Project MJOLNIR.” - When Cortana says the Covenant might be scavenging another species' technology, which could lead to new opportunities for the UNSC.
*“Is it possible, Cortana, that I know something you don’t?” - When Cortana expresses surprise that MJOLNIR Mark V was approved.
*Cortana reminded Dr. Halsey of herself when she had been an adolescent: smarter than her parents, always reading, talking, learning, and eager to share her knowledge with anyone who would listen. Of course, there was a very good reason why Cortana reminded Dr. Halsey of herself.
*“Soon. There are a few final modifications that need to be made in the systems.” - When Cortana asks if she'll be reassigned for RED FLAG.
*“Which one do you want?” - When Cortana asks which Spartan she'll be assigned to.
*“Perhaps it would be best if you picked another—” - After Cortana immediately gravitates to John-117.
*“It was a question, Cortana. I did not give you carte blanche to select your ‘carrier.’ There are compatibility issues to consider.” - When Cortana responds that Halsey said she could choose.
*Why was she hesitating? The match ''was'' superb. But was Cortana’s predilection for Spartan 117 a result of him being Dr. Halsey’s favorite? And did it matter? Who better to protect him?
*“He was awarded this Legion of Honor medallion because he dove into a bunker of Covenant soldiers. He took out twenty by himself and saved a platoon of Marines who were pinned down by a stationary energy weapon emplacement. I’ve read the report, but I’m still not sure how he managed to do it.”
*“You’ve read his CSV?”
*“Then you know he is neither the smartest nor the fastest nor the strongest of the Spartans. But he is the bravest—and quite possibly the luckiest. And in my opinion, he is the best.”
*“Could you sacrifice him if you had to? If it meant completing the mission? Could you watch him die?”
*“Good. Then you can have him.” - After Cortana confirms that mission completion comes first, and John's survival second.
*“Now. Show me your pick of our ship candidates for the mission.”
*“Perfect. I concur with your final selection recommendation. We will start the refit operations at once.”
*“Ah yes, the Captain. I have [[Jacob Keyes|the perfect man]] for the job. He’s a tactical genius. I’ll forward you his CSV, and you can see for yourself.”
*“Besides, he has the most important qualification for this job. The man can keep a secret.”

===Chapter 26===
*“Good evening, Spartans. Please take your seats. Assembled here tonight,” she said, “are all surviving Spartans save three, who are otherwise engaged on fields of combat too distant to be easily recalled. In the last decade of combat there have only been three KIAs and one Spartan too wounded to continue active duty. You are to be commended for having the bes