Archive:Halo Waypoint/2014 to 2020/Universe/ONI Files

Cold Storage Reports
Recovered from Installation 05

REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE
LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] has experienced catastrophic specimen containment failure. All apertures into facility will be locked until further notice. Atmosphere evacuation and [reduction of ambient temperature] protocols have already been enacted. Request maintenance and security detail [at earliest opportunity]. [8 minutes] elapsed since initial containment failure.

REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE
Waiting for maintenance and security detail. [32 minutes, 9 seconds] elapsed since request.

REPORT: CONTAINMENT FAILURE
Still waiting for maintenance and security detail. [24 hours] elapsed since request.

REPORT: SECURITY BREACH
LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] has experienced a security breach via emergency [slip stream space] transportation conduits. Emergency [slip stream space] transportation conduits have been placed in recursive mode to contain unauthorized hostile lifeforms. Request emergency security detail. Still waiting for primary maintenance and security detail. [2512332 hours, 14 minutes, 6 seconds] elapsed since initial request.

REPORT: DERELICTION OF DUTY
2401 [PENITENT TANGENT] has been lax in the areas of maintenance and security.

LOG: QUERIED ADJACENT FACILITIES
LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility [alpha, beta, gamma, epsilon, zeta, and kappa sites] have all replied [systems normal] within expected constraints. This would tend to signify that the containment failure was purely mechanical in nature; perhaps a manufacturing flaw. As no [outside agent] has accessed [delta site] in the past [874068942 hours, 4 minutes, 46 seconds]—[allowing for a 61360 hour, 54, minute, 2 second margin of error]—sabotage would seem unlikely.

LOG: REQUEST UNANSWERED
LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] is currently being held at [.01 atm] / [184K]. Local maintenance and security hubs have failed to reply within expected constraints. [Bumping maintenance and security request up] to [quadrant oversight].

LOG: REQUEST UNANSWERED
LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] is currently being held at [1 atm] / [278K] as atmospheric seals were showing signs of stress. [Quadrant oversight] has failed to reply within expected constraints. [Bumping maintenance and security request all the way up] to 2401 [PENITENT TANGENT].

LOG: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO FACILITIES
LF.Xx.3273 research and containment facility; [delta site] emergency [slip stream space] transportation conduits have been accessed by unauthorized parties.

LOG: FILED COMPLAINT TO INSTALLATION 00
2401 [PENITENT TANGENT], monitor of Installation 05, has been lax in the areas of maintenance and security. Requests for aid in said areas have gone unanswered by both 2401 and [subservient] systems well beyond expected constraints.

Eleventh Hour Reports
PLNB Priority Transmission [Classified]

ENCRYPTION CODE: [CLASSIFIED]

PUBLIC KEY: N/A

FROM: CODENAME SURGEON

TO: CODENAME COALMINER

CLASSIFICATION: ELEVENTH HOUR

SUBJECT: AFTERMATH
/FILE EXTRACTION-RECONSTITUTION COMPLETE/

/START FILE/

Decades from now, when historians evaluate the war, what will they say about us? Will they claim that our victory was ultimately fruitless? That it failed to secure a lasting peace, or worse, that it was only a prelude to far greater horrors that lay ahead?

My hope – our hope – is that history would instead view this war as a catalyst. That the last thirty years were a crucible, a threshing floor for our species, sifting out our fears and frailties. And that ultimately it made us stronger and more vigilant in the end, fully prepared for whatever came next. After all, what good is struggle if there is no change? What good is a fire if the sword is not made stronger?

Attached are four reports accounting the major contingent structures our species currently faces in the wake of the war. Please evaluate them closely. Their outcomes will dictate how history views us, or if history even views us at all.


 * Xenomorphic element [2/5]
 * Martial element [3/5]
 * Provenancial element [4/5]
 * Primogeniture element [5/5]

As Machiavelli once said: “the Romans, foreseeing troubles, dealt with them at once, and, even to avoid a war, would not let them come to a head, for they knew that war is not to be avoided, but is only put off to the advantage of others.”

Likewise, we must deal with these issues head-on, without fear and without hesitation. We can afford no other stance.

/END FILE/

SUBJECT: OVER THE FENCE
/FILE EXTRACTION-RECONSTITUTION COMPLETE/

/START FILE/

SPECIES CANDIDATE//LINE RECORD 94:73:02:75

UNGGOY//

Sensors at Balaho indicate stability, no off-planet transport recorded since the events on Solipsis. Runners are claiming that Buwan has been abandoned as well, but we’re keeping our eyes on it anyway. Moderate unggoy populations have been observed in sangheilian systems at various intervals.

KIG-YAR// Eayn’s native population continues to grow and expand within reasonable governing parameters; its economic and social lines have stabilized in the wake of the war. Muloqt, Kalos, and Valyanop, the primary interplanetary colonial sites, all remain static, with little notable movement. There are rumors of mercenaries operating alongside a handful of more conservative sangheili states, although that has yet to be substantiated.

SANGHEILI// Most intel here originates from ground contacts, but sensors have assisted with validation. The primary issue with the sangheili is that of discordant cultural symmetry. It is difficult to assess military growth across several dozen active colonial vectors all with disparate political structures. Nevertheless, any and all visible military activity appears to be internecine in nature.

NOTE: A cluster of sangheili frontier worlds saw a sudden and anomalous convergence of unregistered ships, largely cruisers of varying classes according to a handful of remote relays stationed nearby. By the time sensors were deployed, the ships were gone. The relays can’t assess numbers or strength, but the readings we have indicate that this wasn’t an expeditionary voyage or something tied to a single state. It appears to have been much larger.

/END FILE/

SUBJECT: THE NEW SOLDIER
/FILE EXTRACTION-RECONSTITUTION COMPLETE/

/START FILE/

Realistically, the pervasiveness of the modern soldier will never be on the decline, at least not in our times. But ubiquity or numbers don’t guarantee operational success and long ago Naval Intelligence recognized this. Rather than drown out our enemies in an avalanche of bodies, we saw the value intrinsic in the specialization and refinement of a very select number of soldiers - a remarkably select number. This is how the Spartan branch came to be.

By reverting back to ORION protocols, the sins of the previous administrations have been averted this time around. Unlike SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III, which will likely face severe ethical scrutiny in the decades to come, the SPARTAN-IV project was centered on properly screened recruits, both career military veterans and young soldiers who showed promise. After passing a rigorous series of tests, admission to the program was a matter of discretion, not compulsion.

From a psychological perspective, the coalescent solidarity of these men and women has been nothing short of astonishing, particularly over a relatively short period of time. Many have even adopted some of the colloquial pejoratives used by S-II operatives years ago [i.e. ‘alpha bravo’ (‘alien bastard’)]. Behavioral shifts like these have and will continue to differentiate S-IVs from the others who serve alongside them. It suggests that the Spartan branch has rapidly and unapologetically become its own thing... almost overnight.

But what value is a warrior without a war? What good is weapon without a threat to give it purpose? When the dragon has recoiled into the cave’s blackness, will the sword withdraw as well? Or will it simply find others to slay? You know as well as I that these are the precise questions that were asked just before the beginning of the Insurrection. And now, these are the same questions that are being asked by those who have the most to lose.

/END FILE/

SUBJECT: PROVENANCE
/FILE EXTRACTION-RECONSTITUTION COMPLETE/

/START FILE/

In the months after the event [11-Dec/52], we dispatched an isolation contact group to the site. Upon entering the debris field, the group was immediately pinged by a non-standard, heterogenic signal emanating from the structure’s surface – or, at least, what had remained of it after its destruction.

Following protocol, the contact group released probes [839] into the debris field. Once it was deemed secure by composite scans conducted over the course of 3.7 days, UNSC RUBICON was deployed from Luna. Aboard were a number of high-risk, remote contact teams [RCT] outfitted for deployment to the installation’s surface.

Without the installation’s artificial sun operating at full capacity, navigating the debris field for insertion was difficult – navigating the installation’s surface itself was even more difficult. The damage was... traumatic.

Habitability sustainment systems were still active in some locations, but were operating intermittently and in a state of disrepair – a factor that generated extremely volatile weather conditions. Some indigenous [if it can be called that] fauna may have survived the event, but RCTs were strictly advised to avoid all potentially hostile life forms.

After 8.4 days, all contact with RCTs was severed. Only one [RCT-06] returned, suffering extensive casualties. They brought back with them a severely damaged armature of Forerunner origin, which appeared to be the original source of the signal. Initially, there was a strong suspicion of this armature’s origin, but local science teams undertook an aggressive node cultivation process to withdraw data from the device and determine, with veracity, its actual origin.

All communications with the UNSC RUBICON halted within 48 hours of their last notice. Search and rescue teams have been deployed to the site, but have reported no findings yet.

/END FILE/

SUBJECT: HEIRLOOMS
/FILE EXTRACTION-RECONSTITUTION COMPLETE/

/START FILE/

Resource allocations have already been approved pursuant to CINCONI mandate. UNSC INFINITY is tasked with the neutralization of all remaining installations. This operation is considered PRI ZERO and is currently in progress.

OVERVIEW OF KNOWN SITES:

Installation 04 [ALPHA HALO] was destroyed during the first contact scenario with the parasitic anomaly known as the FLOOD [22-Sep/52]. Data available for this event remains obscure, even in light of numerous prowler recovery convoys deployed to the site and the details recovered from CTN 0452-9 [19-Oct/52].

Installation 03 [GAMMA HALO] was located by a freighter FLORAL EXPRESS [08-Oct/52], while escaping the destruction of TRIBUTE with colonial refugees. Based on intel recovered from the first installation, neutralization protocols were established and observed [25-Oct/52]. Currently, the installation is orbited and maintained by IVANOFF STATION.

Installation 05 [DELTA HALO] was located when UNSC IN AMBER CLAD pursued a Covenant ship from Earth [20-Oct/52]. Presently, the installation remains intact, although its surface suffered severe trauma due to a local conflict [N-84 ‘THE GREAT SCHISM’]. In order to contain the Flood parasite’s outbreak, sangheili naval forces bombarded the installation’s surface with superheated plasma [04-Nov/52]. Currently, the installation is orbited and maintained by LISBON STATION.

LINE ADDENDA // Re: GAMMA HALO

Local pioneer groups have uncovered a number of artifacts from the installation, including the notable item SBJ 8490-03. A formal request has been submitted for the acquisition and transportation of SBJ 8490-03 to IVANOFF by CC-728304.

This request is currently awaiting approval.

/END FILE/

FIRST CONTACT WITH THE FLOOD
Follow-up report from the Primary Pioneer Group (hereafter: PPG) is [173 hours] delinquent. Report [G617a~k/g/post_landfall] seemed most promising: a planet capable of supporting life located within the near border region of the [galactic halo] with no indigenous sentient species. The section indicating no fauna of any kind shall be considered anomalous until verified by Advance Survey Team-Alpha (hereafter: AST-A) team leader [##_#[?]] If confirmed, that fact alone would justify the dispatch of an investigative group to [G617g]. If neither the PPG or AST-A have delivered a follow-up report within the next [333 hours] this office will have no choice but to send a medium intensity military exploratory detachment to determine the exact nature of the previously mentioned delinquency.

OBSERVATION OF THE FLOOD ON TWO WORLDS
Observed extensive ground action on [LP 656-38 e]. 9,045 survivors barricaded within central government building. Structure's defenses inadequate to withstand extended siege by enemy ground forces (1,572,034,315+). Estimated position overrun in [173 hours].

846 smaller groups in less defensible structures; global distribution corresponding to [probability model zeta]. Estimated local position overrun in [9 hours] (average).

Observed local naval forces engage enemy irregular naval group near [DM-3-1123]. Enemy group consisted of 149 commercial shipping vessels, passenger ferries, and private recreational vehicles from neighboring system. Enemy losses were total. No damage was sustained by local naval vessels.

However, it was immediately apparent that the enemy group sought only to enter [DM-3-1123 b's] atmosphere and make landfall. In this they were partially successful.

Observed extensive ground action on [DM-3-1123 b]. Enemy forces lacked basic cohesion but quickly gained numerical superiority. [32 hours] after enemy landfall 83% of local naval forces advocated total [destruction of the biosphere] following the evacuation of unmolested population centers. Enemy losses were total.

Estimated number of citizens evacuated before commencement of orbital blanket bombardment: 1,318,797 civilian/42,669 military (.0006% of total population).

FORERUNNER FLEET MEMORANDUM
//FLEETWIDE MEMORANDUM 1/5

Non-combat personnel are required to wear [combat skin] with a minimum rating of at least [class 12] in non-restricted areas, once the fleet is underway. [Class 14] or lesser [combat skin] is acceptable in core areas. Combat personnel will only be permitted to wear [combat skin] rated below [class 8] in core areas, once operations begin.

//FLEETWIDE MEMORANDUM 2/5

All combat personnel have been issued combat skin rated at [class 4~1] or [class 6~1 battle harness] depending on military operational specialty. All weapon platform specialists are expected to wear their issued [platform interface skin] at all times to ensure peak [mind-machine synchronization]. All [equipment lockers] will remain sealed until post briefing gear distribution commences.

//FLEETWIDE MEMORANDUM 3/5

Those individuals that have yet to register their equipment [control key code] with Fleet Command should do so at their earliest opportunity. Compliance is not optional; noncompliance will result in {~}

FORERUNNER LETTER
[Father],

I hope this message finds you well and helps you understand my decision. Today I leave the only world I have ever called home, not for glory or [the anomalous desire to end another's life[?]] as you have [indicted]; but to [travel the path of demons[?]] to spare the hands of [another Father's son].

"Had we acted sooner; had we acted more decisively..." Living in the past is a luxury none of us can afford. We must learn from it, but we cannot live there. It is impossible to plan for the [now]--the present is ever fleeting. [The future] is where we must live--[the future] is what we must plan for.

I do not look to trade my life in order to preserve our past, but to secure the future--and if not ours, then the future of some [culture] yet to come.

Isn't sacrifice in the interest of others what you always spoke of as being so noble? Should I have allowed another to bloody his hands while I remained safe behind a [shield of privilege]?

You raised me better than that.

[Filial Devotion]

[@_@;_%[?]]

FIRST COMMUNIQUE
L: Categorization has sped since the improvements were announced, but there are many hurdles. The indexing of sentient species may have irreversible effects on the surviving nonsentient species. We will have extinction events and irreparable environmental harm on at least 18 worlds. Current projections estimate post-archival cataclysm on as many as 31 worlds. The paucity of sentience has been a blessing in this regard.

D: How formal of you, Librarian. We're receiving shipments of indexed beings more frequently than communications. Don't compound scarcity with brevity. I know things beyond the [Maginot] line are harried. But I worry about you. I've asked you time and time again. Abandon your cataloging. Come back inside, where my fleets can keep you safe. Come home.

L: Would that it were my choice. I have committed to this course because it is the right thing to do. We no longer have the manpower or material to excise remedial measures at a planetary level. I certainly can't justify using the [transit measure] to save my own skin when there are still so many innocents to protect and index.

D: You know I oppose your mission, but you're exceeding its parameters anyway. You've put yourself in jeopardy. You've done enough. If you will not come to me, I will find my way to you.

L: We have no time to spare, Didact. Every vessel we can fill, we send to the Ark. I dare not cease the mission. Not now, not until I've done all I can. Each one of these souls is finite and precious. And I'm close. Close to saving them all.

SECOND COMMUNIQUE
L: I'm close to finishing the task. The indexing and the archival processes are as complete as I can hope for. If we wait longer, we risk catastrophe. The thing has already destroyed every colony on my side of the line. Please. Activate the Array.

D: No. Activation is murder. A genocide larger than [this galaxy] has ever known. We are sworn to protect life not destroy it! That is the Mantle we were given to carry.

L: The Mantle. You still hold to that [fairy tale] after all that has happened? After this thing has consumed a million worlds? Can't you see? Belief in the Mantle sealed our doom! Weakened our [protectorates], bred dependence and sloth. Our [so-called Guardianship] has stripped those we would keep safe of any capacity for self-defense! Were we such noble [Guardians] when we drew our line and abandoned billions to the parasite?

D: The Mantle has not failed! I've already razed scores of worlds - sterilized systems, routed and [disintegrated] the parasite! We're learning its tricks and strategies. We can halt this thing! And we can follow in Their footsteps! There are no unstoppable forces in this universe. There are no immovable objects. Everything gives if you push hard enough.

L: And what about us, Didact? We've been irresistible and immovable for too long. Maybe it's our turn to give.

THIRD COMMUNIQUE
D: We have the answer. We've built Mendicant Bias. It's a contender-class [AI] unlike anything we've ever achieved. And we've observed a pattern it can exploit. The parasite has formed a Compound Mind. When it reaches a certain mass, the Mind is able to recoil its disparate parts to create a [tactical shield]. This is a simple matter of mass preservation. The thing has no compunction about sacrificing parts of the whole. But when the core of the Mind is threatened, it reacts violently and quickly. This is the only time we see it retract or slow its growth. If we are to defeat it, the trick will be coordinating our forays against the [sprawling infection] while Mendicant Bias assaults the Mind's core. So far, we've been hesitant to use certain weapons because of the damage they cause surviving populations and environments. That protocol has been abandoned. Mendicant Bias will draw the Mind into battle outside the line, dealing with local biomass and other parts as best he can. The scale of the problem is vast, but the strategy is sound. It will require patience, materiel and an investment of energy unlike anything we have ever considered. It's a dangerous plan that carries more risk than the Array, but I believe it can work. Even if we simply force it to retreat--to retract--that will at least give us some respite. Some time to muster more resources...Some time to rescue you.

L: Are you insane? Would you risk every life in the galaxy for this transparently futile plan? Have you learned nothing in these last [300 years[?]]? The thing will laugh at your efforts! Do not let your concern for my welfare commit you to this suicidal scheme!

FOURTH COMMUNIQUE
L: Something is wrong! It’s moving away! At night I can see it – flitting shadows – black against the stars. Thousands of ships! Not spiraling outward but heading for the line. This is the tipping, Didact. It’s no longer feeding. It’s coming for you.

L: I've remotely destroyed our Keyships. A security measure. Without them I cannot reach the Ark. But neither then can the thing. I'm trapped. On a beautiful, empty world. Its inhabitants have been safely indexed, every single one of them. They're special--well worth the effort it took to build one final gateway even at this late hour. This may be our last communication. I'm begging you. Fire the Array. Light the weapon, and let it be done.

D: We've confirmed your observations. Infected supraluminal ships are arrowing inward from several clusters. No more spiral growth. The thing is counterattacking. Suppression, Security and Emergency Circumstance fleets are all being recalled. Systems are evacuating. Mendicant Bias is no longer communicating with us. But now I can guess where you are.

FIFTH COMMUNIQUE
L: My work is done. The portal is inactive, and I've begun the burial measures. Soon there'll be nothing but sand and rock and normal ferrite signatures. You should see the mountain that watches over it. A beautiful thing--a snowcapped sentinel. That's where I will spend what time is left to me. Did I tell you? I built a garden. The earth is so rich. A seed falls and a tree sprouts or a flower blooms. There's so much...potential. We knew this was a special place because of them, but unless you've been here, you can't know. It's [Eden]. I have to stop transmitting. The thing is listening. Its [thinking dead] are babbling--laughing through every channel they can find. Be proud. The Mind claims victory, yet it still doesn't suspect. You've outwitted it, my love. And now you can destroy it. But you cannot save me.

SIXTH COMMUNIQUE
D: Proud? When I have failed you utterly, how can I feel anything but sorrow? Bias has come undone. He crossed the line this morning--brought the abomination with him--and destroyed your waiting rescue party. It's over. We're activating the [destruction arrayed matrix], our shameful last resort. I can picture you in your garden, surveying all you have created--surveying all you have preserved. And I curse the circumstance that keeps my finger on the trigger.

D: Of all the fates to befall us, this is the cruelest of all. My inaction and hesitation kept me here, on the wrong side of the line. And [300 years[?]] of our society's failure and miscalculation makes me your executioner. It's too much to bear.

//ERROR--NO CARRIER OR RECEIPT AVAILABLE {DEAD END TRANSMISSION} //INFORMATION DESTROYED IN TRANSIT

D: Mendicant Bias is trying to prevent us from firing the Array. He speeds back to the Ark, but he won't succeed. Offensive Bias will stop him, and I will burn this stinking menace in your name. And then? I will begin our Great Journey without you, carrying this bitter record. Those who came after will know what we bought with this [false transcendence]--what you bought, and the price you paid.