Halo 3

Disclaimer
DISCLAIMER: ''Halo 3 is, at this moment, NOT YET officially confirmed by developer Bungie Studios. It is expected to appear as a title for the XBOX 360, possibly concurrently with the Halo Movie in development at Universal Studios. The game was announced on April 4th, 2005 on www.gamespot.com, but any information coming from sources not affiliated with Bungie Studios is pure speculation.''

Halo 2's Plot Developments
It is revealed in Halo 2 that all other Halo rings in the galaxy have been activated and put into standby mode, and that only a device known as The Ark has the capability to shut them all down. Sergeant Johnson, Miranda Keyes, 343 Guilty Spark and the Arbiter ponder this in the Halo control room. It is inferred that this device was sequestered away by the Forerunners, probably somewhere on Earth in remote pre-history. The Master Chief, meanwhile, returns to Earth in a spaceship he stowed away on when he left Cortana behind at her insistence. The ship that the Chief is on is a Forerunner Ship and it is occupied both by the last Prophet and its AI, which Cortana said she had great difficulty with as it fought her. Both the Master Chief and the Prophet are probably trying to head to the location of the Ark on Earth. The stage is set for a climactic final battle on Earth to find and gain control of the Ark which has either the power to shut down or resume the Halo Installation superweapon firing sequence all over the galaxy and also on High Charity to re-defeat the Flood.

After the credits, we are treated to a small cinematic. The short movie reveals the omnipresent nature of the controlling intelligence behind the Flood - the massive creature that lives within its depths known as the Gravemind. He recites a verse:


 * Silence fills the empty grave now that I am gone,
 * But my mind is not at rest, for questions linger on.
 * I will ask and you will answer.

Cortana appears above a console; its tentacle reaches out to her, but she raises her hand to halt its grasp - "Alright, shoot." is her response. Interestingly, as the Gravemind speaks in verse, the iambic pentameter of this phrase suggests that it is annoyed or worried.

The Rampancy of Cortana
Cortana's agreement to answer the Gravemind's questions leaves open the possibility that Cortana may have become - or may be becoming - Rampant, and either giving some information to or forming some sort of alliance with the Flood which will join the final battle for control of the Ark.

It should also be noted that Cortana is not a biological lifeform but a computer program and would likely be unaffected should Halo actually fire. It is likely that Cortana is aware of this, so people should factor that into her reasoning.

Cortana going Rampant would also be in keeping with the tradition of other rampant AI's in Bungie games - ie: the Marathon series. It appears at least that Cortana has motivations that aren't entirely clear and may in fact be above and beyond her programming.

Master Chief's Shields
In the previous two Halo games, the earliest actions that the player undertake in the guise of the Chief include recharging of shields. The Chief has not had an opportunity to recharge his shields since he left Cairo Station in Halo 2. With this in mind, it is likely that the Chief will start out with shields at less-than-maximum charge, and only regain the maximum charge for his shields once he returns to a human-controlled space and gets to a recharger, or otherwise hijacks a Covenant-made recharger for his use.