The Package (animated short)

''The Package redirects here. For other uses, see The Package (disambiguation).''

The Package is one of seven short films from the anime anthology Halo Legends. Unlike the other six episodes of the anthology, which feature traditional, hand-drawn animation, The Package is rendered in CGI. The Package follows John-117 and a squad of Spartan as they execute a top-secret mission to retrieve an highly valuable UNSC asset on a Covenant assault carrier.

Summary
Aboard an ONI stealth ship, a team of Spartans consisting of John-117, Frederic-104, Kelly-087, Solomon-069 and Arthur-079, are briefed by an intelligence officer. A Covenant fleet is momentarily trapped in the system. One of the ships is carrying an important "package" which the Spartans must retrieve. The stealth craft de-cloaks and deploys the Spartans in Booster Frames.

The team make their way past an array of plasma weaponry and attach a scanning device to a CCS-class battlecruiser to search for the "package's" frequency. Solomon detects the package on one of the ships. As soon as he leaves the vessel's hangar, he discovers an antimatter charge, which destroys the ship and kills him. Soon, the Spartans detect the same beacon frequency coming from all the ships around them. This confirms that the Covenant knows what the commandos are after. John deduces that the target is actually in the assault carrier flagship. Arthur is killed while trying to cover Kelly from pursuing Seraphs. The remaining Spartans board the Assault Carrier and take cover inside a bubble shield.

After making their way through thick Brute and Grunt defenses, the Spartans are ambushed by a team of elites. Fred parries a swipe from an energy sword with his Spartan Laser, and kills his attacker with a combat knife, distracting John's own attacker and holding the Elites off long enough for John and Kelly to proceed. The Fleet Master gives the order to detach parts of the hull, hoping to leave the Spartans stranded in space - Kelly manages to propel John back into the ship, but is left in the vacuum. John manages to recover the "package" - revealed to be Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, founder of the SPARTAN-II program, in cryo-hibernation.

John releases the doctor and tries to effect an escape. However, their path is blocked by the Elite Major Thel 'Lodamee, who challenges John to a sword duel, giving the Spartan his other Energy Sword. The duel is fierce but short, and John is disarmed and defeated. At this moment, by a twist of fate, the Shipmaster decides to detach the entire lower hull section and jump to Slipspace after clearing the magnetic interference, leaving the Spartans and many Covenant survivors stranded. Thel is sealed off from John and Halsey just when he's about to kill them. As he is lifted away from the soon-to-be-scuttled hull, he curses the Shipmaster with the words, "I had him. Commander, you fool! A thousand hells await you!"

Now free of immediate Covenant danger, the two board a Covenant escape pod and are promptly pursued by Seraph fighters. They are saved by Fred and Kelly, who have captured another Seraph. The survivors are recovered by the stealth ship, which soon leaves the system. Once they are aboard, John swears that he will never let another comrade die again.

Trivia

 * The art gallery seen on Halo Waypoint shows an Elite wearing an assault harness. However, it is incorrectly referred to as the Flight Harness, another armor permutation of the Elites.
 * Despite the fact that people must be put into cryo-sleep naked to avoid burns on the skin, Dr. Halsey is seen in her cryo pod fully clothed. This, like the closing scene in Halo Wars, was most likely done to avoid implementing a nude scene, which in turn would give Halo Legends an R or NC-17 rating.
 * The Package reveals that some of Cortana's lines were references to quotes from Halsey. However, the line "No thanks to their driving, yes," is mentioned by John-117, who is also referencing Halsey.
 * Kelly says "We've got three minutes," when the SPARTANs board the assault carrier; the SPARTANs had ten minutes to complete the mission, meaning the SPARTANs had spent seven minutes fighting in space: (10-3=7). The battle between John-117 and 'Lodamee lasts seven seconds. When 'Lodamee throws John-117 an energy sword, fourteen rounds remain in John's assault rifle: (14/2=7).
 * If one is looking closely at John's HUD, mere seconds before his switches to his SMGs, his Assault Rifle shows that 14 rounds have been fired, with 18 still remaining. It is safe to assume that the type of Assault Rifle he is using is probably a version of the MA5C or the MA5D (which was in service as early as 2526), as 14+18=32 total rounds.
 * Before John-117 takes out his SMGs, his HUD shows that he has no more assault rifle ammunition. Later, when he meets 'Lodamee again, he tries to kill the Elite with a burst from the assault rifle. It is possible that he had more ammunition and reloaded his weapon while he was offscreen. Additionally, during the scene where Solomon realizes he has stepped into a trap, his HUD shows that he is holding a Spartan Laser as his primary weapon and an SMG as his secondary weapon. However, he is actually holding an assault rifle rather than SMGs.
 * The Jackals seen when the trio make it aboard the flagship wear air tanks on their backs, similar to Grunts, even though they breathe oxygen; this may be because they were preparing to engage in extravehicular activity outside the ship's atmosphere.
 * When John and Kelly are fighting their way through the corridor, it is shown that the Grunts, the Elites, and the Brutes all have green blood. Grunts actually have blue blood, and Brutes and Elites have dark red and purple blood, respectively.
 * When Kelly yells "Seraph formation!", the English subtitles mistakenly say, "Syrup formation!"